Macedonia’s foreign trade deficit narrowed by 54.9% y/y to $86.7mn in January, the statistics office said. We estimate that the shortfall equals 0.7% of the projected 2015 GDP. Exports rose 4.8% y/y to $335.7mn in January, while imports dropped 17.6% y/y to $422.4mn.
The EU-28 countries bought 80.1% of Macedonia’s exports and forwarded 64.6% of its imports in the first month of 2015. Macedonia’s exports to the EU edged up 1.9% y/y to $268.8mn, whereas imports from the bloc declined 18.5% y/y to $272.6mn.
Macedonia's main export markets were Germany (accounting for 46.3% of January exports), Bulgaria (7.7%), China (6.5%), and Italy (4.6%). Imports came mainly from the UK (18.5%), Germany (10.3%), Serbia (7.9%), and Greece (6.7%).
In January, top export products were: supported catalysts with precious metal or precious metal compounds as the active substance; ferro-nickel; ignition wiring sets and other wiring sets used in vehicles, aircraft or ships; iron and steel products (flat-rolled products); and clothes. The main imported goods included oil; platinum and platinum alloys; electricity; and other metals of the platinum group and alloys thereof.
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