Tunisia’s foreign trade in volume terms (constant price) saw a decline of around 5.1% at export and of 5.2% at import in the first half of 2019, compared to the same period of year 2018, according to data provided by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
In terms of prices, they increased by 18.6% for exports and 20.9% for imports.
In current values, Tunisia’s external trade reached, in the first half of 2019, the values of 22,904.2 MD in exports and 32,684.7 MD in imports, therefore posting an increase of 12.5% for exports and 14.6% for imports, compared to the same period of 2018.
Evolution of foreign trade excluding energy
Excluding energy, prices rose 18.6% on exports and 19.9% on imports, compared with the first half of 2018.
In fact, energy prices recorded increases of 19.0% in exports and 27.7% in import during the same period of the current year.
In the first half of 2019, exports by volume fell for the textile / clothing and leather sector (4.2%); the energy sector (5.2%) and the agriculture and agri-food sector (20.2%).
In addition, exports of the phosphate mining and energy derivatives sector remained almost stable (+ 0.4%).
With regard to imports, the volume trend is marked by a decrease mainly in the agriculture and agri-food sector (2.2%); the textile / clothing and leather sector (6.7%); the mechanical and electrical industries sector (8.9%).
In addition, imports from the energy sector increased in volume by 6.2%.
