Albania's trade deficit stood at ALL42bn (€419mn) in June, a 13.4% y/y increase but a 5.9% decrease month-on-month, the country's statistical office INSTAT reported on July 19.

Exports of food, textiles and construction materials all fell in anual terms in June, as the high value of the lek against the euro takes its toll on Albanian exporters. 

The export value was ALL35bn (€349mn), a decline of 8.9% y/y and a slight drop of 0.1% m/m. Imports, on the other hand, reached ALL77bn, an increase of 2.1% y/y, but a decrease of 3.3% m/m.

The decline in exports was driven by decreases in food, beverages, tobacco (-6.0 percentage points), textiles and footwear (-4.6pp), and construction materials and metals (-2.4pp). The ‘others’ category provided a positive contribution of +4.6pp.

The increase in imports was mainly due to food, beverages, tobacco (+1.6pp), construction materials and metals (+1.4pp), and mineral, fuels, electricity (+0.7pp). Negative contributions came from textiles and footwear (-0.9pp), machinery, equipment, and spare parts (-0.7pp), and chemical and plastic products (-0.2pp).

Albania saw largest decreases in exports to Italy (11.2%), Greece (15%), and Spain (40%). Meanwhile, exports increased to Kosovo (3.9%) and Germany (9.5%). 

The largest increases in imports were from Greece (9.2%), Kosovo (132.9%), and North Macedonia (7.7%), while imports decreased from Italy (1.2%), China (1.9%), and Turkey (5.3%).

Exports to the EU made up 68.6% of total exports, and imports from the EU constituted 51.2% of total imports. Italy remained Albania's main trade partner, making up 28.3% of total trade, followed by China (8.9%), Turkey (7.0%), and Greece (7.0%).