IN 2018, IMPORTS TO MOLDOVA WERE MUCH GREATER THAN ITS EXPORTS

In 2018, Moldovan economic operators had exported goods worth US$2.706 billion lei, or 11.6% more than in 2017. At the same time, imports grew 19.3% - up to US$5.764.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the share of Moldova-made goods in the republic's total export accounted to 68.4% (US$1.8 billion lei), while the rest was re-export.

Exports to European Union countries reached 68.8% (+3%), while export to the CIS countries dropped 3.7% - down to 15.4%.

The main export item is food and live cattle, delivered abroad by more than US$613 million (+0.5%), last year. Industrial products follow next - US$612.4 million (+14%). Exports of machinery and equipment for transport increased by more than a third and reached US$586.4 million.

Romania is remaining the main consumer of goods from Moldova - worth US$792.3 million (+32%), followed by Italy - US$309.6 million (+31.2%) and Germany - US$219.9 million (+32.3%). Russia dropped to the fourth place, as supplies to the country decreased by more than 14% down to US$218.6 million.

Almost half of imports to Moldova came from European Union - 49.5% (+0.1%), and 25.1% (+0.1%) came from the CIS area

Russia and Romania are remaining the largest suppliers to Moldova - US$838.2 million (+20.6%) and US$720.8 million (+26%), respectively. The third is China - US$600.3 million (+18.8%), which has moved Ukraine to the 4th position - US$577.1 million (+12.9%).В

Most of all, Moldova purchased machinery and equipment - US$1.387 billion (+28.5%), industrial products - US$1.142 billion (+15%) and mineral resources - US$990 million (+30.1%).

The trade deficit in 2018 increased by US$700 million (27.1%), exceeding US$3.057 billion, while the degree of coverage of imports by exports decreased from 50.2% to 47%.