The volume of exports (constant prices) fell by 4% in the first eight months of 2019, compared to an increase of 4.6% in the same period in 2018, the National Statistics Institute (NSI) reports.
The decline in export volumes in the first eight months of 2019 affected several sectors, including agriculture and agri-food (18.8%), textiles, clothing and leather (4.2%) and mechanical and electrical industries (2.1%), the same source revealed.
In contrast, the volume of exports in the energy sector increased by 1.4% and that of other manufacturing industries by 4.4%.
In terms of prices, export prices increased by 16.7%. Thus, in current value (and taking into account the impact of the dinar exchange rate), Tunisian exports increased by 12% to reach a value of 29,523.7 MD.
As for imports, they fell by 8% in the first eight months of 2019 compared to an increase of 1.9% in the same period of 2018, INS revealed.
Imported quantities decreased in the mechanical and electrical industries (10.4%), the textile, clothing and leather sector (8.1%) and the agriculture and food industry sector by about 9.6%.
In terms of import prices, they increased by 19.6%, against an increase of 10% in the current value over the eight months of 2019, to 42,387.9 MD, INS concluded.
TunisianMonitorOnline
