External Trade - 2nd Quarter 2020Highlights
Total Exports
Total exports, including ship's stores & bunkers, for the second quarter of 2020 amounted to Rs 12,279 million, showing a decrease of 35.4% compared to the previous quarter. This is mainly explained by decreases in exports of “Mineral fuels, lubricants and related material" (-98.9%), “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (-51.7%), “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (-47.0%), “Machinery and transport equipment" (-38.5%), “Ships' stores & bunkers" (-34.6%), “Crude materials, inedible, except fuels" (-26.4%) and “Food and live animals" (-26.2%), partly offset by increases in exports of “Animals and vegetable oils, fats & waxes" (+33.3%) and “Chemicals and related products, n.e.s." (+24.4%).
Compared to the corresponding quarter of 2019, total exports for the second quarter of 2020 decreased by 40.1%. This is mainly explained by decreases in exports of “Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials" (-99.0%), “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (-60.2%), “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (-60.0%), “Machinery and transport equipment" (-58.9%), “Food and live animals" (-22.8%) and “Ship's stores & bunkers" (-19.8%), partly offset by increases in exports of “Crude materials, inedible, except fuels" (+34.7%) and “Chemicals and related products" (+12.7%).
Compared to the first semester of 2019, total exports for the first semester of 2020, decreased by 21.5%.
Total Imports
Total imports, for the second quarter of 2020, amounted to Rs 34,539 million, showing a decrease of 21.7% compared to the previous quarter. This is mainly due to decreases in imports of “Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials" (-62.5%), “Machinery and transport equipment" (-32.5%), “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (-22.5%), “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (-9.6%) and “Chemicals and related products" (-0.6%), partly offset by an increase in the imports of “Food and live animals" (+22.3%).
Compared to the corresponding quarter of 2019, total imports for the second quarter of 2020 decreased by 28.8%. This is mainly due to decreases in imports of “Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials" (-55.2%), “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (-45.9%), “Machinery and transport equipment" (-37.3%), “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (-32.7%), “Crude materials, inedible, except fuels" (-26.1%) and “Chemicals and related products" (-16.6%), partly offset by an increase in the imports of “Food and live animals" (+11.7%).
Compared to the first semester of 2019, total imports for the first semester of 2020, decreased by 17.1%.
Balance of trade
The trade deficit for the second quarter of 2020 worked out to Rs 22,260 million, 20.6% lower than the deficit of Rs 28,022 million of the corresponding quarter of 2019 and 11.3% lower than the deficit of Rs 25,092 million of the previous quarter.
Compared to the first semester of 2019, the trade deficit works out to around Rs 47,352 million, 13.8% lower than the deficit of Rs 54,942 million of the first semester of 2019.
Forecast for year 2020
Based on trends and information from various sources, the forecast of total exports for 2020 will be around Rs 64,400 million, 18.6% lower than the total exports of around Rs 79,100 million in 2019. Total imports for 2020, including one-off items such as metro trains and linear accelerator for cancer treatment, will be around Rs 187,700 million, 7.1% lower than the total imports of around Rs 202,000 million in 2019.
The trade deficit for 2020 is forecasted at around Rs 123,300 million, 0.3% higher as compared to around Rs 122,900 million in 2019.
August 2020
