” During the first quarter of 2020, Tunisia’s foreign trade dropped in volume (constant price) in exports of about 13.5% and imports of around 15.1%, compared to the same period of 2019, according to the note on “foreign trade at constant price”, released by the National Institute of Statistics (French: INS).
In terms of prices, they fell by 1% for exports and increased by 4.4% for imports.
Tunisia’s foreign trade reached, during the first quarter of 2020, 10514.9 million dinars (MD) in exports and 14020.6 MD in imports, thus recording a drop by 11.2% for exports and 11.4% for imports, compared to the same period in 2019.
The decline in exports volume, during the first three months of 2020, impacted the majority of sectors, mainly the energy and lubricants sector (-22.2%), the textiles/clothing and leather sector (-19, 4%) and the mechanical and electrical industries sector (-14.9%).
However, exports from the mining, phosphates and derivatives sector increased in volume by around 20.5%, compared to the same period of 2019.
Concerning imports, the evolution in volume is marked by a drop in all sectors, particularly the mechanical and electrical industries (-20.7%), as well as the textile, clothing and leather sector (-17, 2%).
Excluding energy, prices decreased by 1.5% in exports and increased by 3.4% in imports compared to the first three months of 2019.
// Strong contraction in Tunisia’s trade at constant prices, in March 2020
Exports decreased in March 2020 by 29.5% and imports dropped by 29.2% compared with the same month last year, according to data from foreign trade at constant prices, from March 2020.
As to prices, results show an increase of 2.6% for imported products against a slight decrease of 0.1% for exported products.
