Algiers – Algeria’s trade balance registered a deficit of USD 3.97 billion from January to May, against USD 8.71 billion in the same period of last year, a drop of 54.4%, according to data made public this Tuesday (20) by the National Centre of Data Processing and Statistics (CNIS, in the French acronym) and published by news outlet Algérie Presse Service (APS).
Exports totaled USD 15.7 billion in the first five months of 2017, an increase of 41% over the same period of 2016, while imports declined 0.98% to USD 19.67 billion in the same comparison.
Thanks to a certain recovery in oil prices, exports by the oil industry totaled USD 14.86 billion, up 43% over the first five months of last year. The sector accounted for 94.63% of Algeria’s foreign sales in the period.
Exports of other products totaled only USD 843 million, or 5.4% of the total. Revenues increased 11% over the first five months of 2016. This amount includes semi-finished products, foods, basic goods, capital goods and consumer durable goods.
With imports, there was a decline in the purchase of capital goods, but purchases of foods and consumer durable goods went up. In the former case, the total imported reached USD 3.8 billion, an increase of 13% over January to May of last year; and in the latter, at USD 3.41 billion, there was an increase of 1.2% in the same comparison.
The main destinations for Algerian exports were Italy, Spain, France, United States and the Netherlands. The largest suppliers were China, France, Italy, Germany and Spain.
Brazil
To Brazil, Algeria sold USD 1 billion from January to May, an increase of 74% over the same period of 2016. The main items sold were naphtha, crude oil, urea, phosphate and liquefied gas.
On the other hand, Brazil exported USD 524 million to Algeria, up 27% in the same comparison. The main products sold were sugar, maize, soy oil, beef and peanuts. The trade balance registered a surplus to Algeria of almost USD 560 million. The data is from the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services (MDIC).
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
