Tunisia’s foreign trade recorded an increase of 5.8 % in exports (against 3.2% during the same period of 2012) and 5.1% for imports (against 13.5% in 2012), from January 1 to August 31, 2013.
According to statistics recently released by the National Institute OF Statistics (INS), the volume of Tunisian trade stood at the end of August to 18,423.4 million Tunisian dinars (MTD) for export and to 26,092.3 MTD for import.
Thus, the coverage has posted a slight increase of (0.5 points ), compared to the first eight months of 2012, standing in August 2013 at 70.6 % against 70.1% in August 2012.
Regarding exports, the growth achieved during the first 8 months of the year, results from the development of exports in most sectors, including the agricultural and food products (13.9 %), textile, clothing and leather (6 %), mechanical and electrical industries (5.9 %), and other manufacturing sector (11.9 %).
In contrast, exports of phosphate and derivatives sector fell by 0.9%, while the energy sector remained stable (0.1%).
Regarding imports, the increase recorded is due mainly to the growth in imports in several sectors, namely food (20.6 %), energy (4%), capital goods (4.8 %) and raw materials and semi- manufactured products (2.5 %).
