Tunisia's foreign trade posted during the first eight months of 2020 a drop in volume (at constant prices) in exports (-17.2%) and imports (-18.8%) compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data on foreign trade at constant prices published on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) show.
Prices of exports and imports also fell by 1.7% and 3.5%, respectively.
In current values, Tunisia's foreign trade reached during the 1st eight months of 2020 about 24,032.4 million dinars (MD) in exports and 33,246.0 MD in imports, posting a 18.6% drop in exports and 21.6% in imports compared to the same period last year.
During this period, the drop in the volume of exports involved most of the sectors, mainly the textile/clothing/leather sector (-20.1%) and mechanical and electrical industries (-25.2%).
However, the agriculture and agro-food sector's exports rose by 19.5% in volume compared to the same period in 2019.
As for imports, most sectors posted a drop, particularly the mechanical and electrical industries (-26.5%) and the textile/clothing/leather sector (-21.6%).
However, the imports of agriculture and agro-food sector recorded an increase by 1.1% in volume, compared to the same period in 2019.
Foreign trade up, excluding energy
Excluding energy, prices edged down 0.4% in exports and up 0.8% in imports compared to the 1st eight months of 2019.
Year-on-year drop in foreign trade at constant prices in August
At constant prices, exports and imports edged down 10.1% and 7.5%, respectively, in August 2020 compared to the same month last year.
Likewise, the prices of traded products fell by 1.5% in exports and 6.1% in imports, the same source indicated.