Sales were lower to the Middle-East countries (-15.1 percent), the EU countries (-2.8 percent), America (-1.9 percent) and Africa (-0.8 percent). In contrast, outbound shipments rose to the European countries outside EU (+2.2 percent) and Asia (+0.5 percent).
Imports declined 0.6 percent to EUR 41.9 billion, mainly for: pharmaceuticals (-18.0 percent), automotive products (-12.0 percent), natural hydrocarbons (-5.5 percent); jewelry, toys, furniture (-5.9 percent), metallurgical and metal products (-4.3 percent), textiles, leather (-2.7 percent); wood, paper, cardboard (-2.4 percent), ships, trains, bikes (-8.1 percent), electrical and household equipment (-0.7 percent), agriculture products (-1.0 percent) refined oil (-0.7 percent) and chemicals (-1.1 percent. In contrast, imports went up for: industrial and agriculture machinery (+1.6 percent); perfumes, cosmetics and cleaning products (+2.0 percent), works of arts (+7.0 percent) and aerospace industry products +8.9 percent).