Business updates

External trade statistics publications second quarter 2020 indicate that total exports (inclusive of ship’s stores & bunkers), for the second quarter of 2020, amounted to Rs 12,279 million. Compared to corresponding semester of 2019, total exports for the first semester of 2020, decreased by 21.5%.

Domestic exports, amounted to Rs 7,588 million for the second quarter of 2020 and compared to corresponding semester of 2019, domestic exports for the first semester of 2020, was lower by 26.0%.

Exports figures by country of destination for the second quarter of 2020 shows that the European countries were our main buyers, purchasing some 47.6% of our exports for a value of Rs 4,759 million. Among countries, the major destinations for our exports were U.K (10.6%), U.S.A. (10.5%), France (10.0%), Madagascar (8.6%), Italy (8.3%) South Africa (7.5%) and Spain (4.9%). Compared to the corresponding semester in 2019, exports to main markets decreased in the first semester of 2020. Exports to France, UK, South Africa, U.S.A, Madagascar and Italy witnessed decreases of 37.6%, 32.9%, 32.9%, 31.7%, 18.5% and 7.0% respectively, as compared to Spain which has witnessed an increase of 6.0%.

Total imports, for the second quarter of 2020, amounted to Rs 34,539 million. Total imports, fell by 17.1% in first semester of 2020, compared to the corresponding period. Consequently, the trade deficit for first semester of 2020 works out to around Rs 47,352 million, compared to Rs 54,942 million in the corresponding semester.  An improvement of 13.8% in the balance of visible trade was observed.

Analysis by regional trade agreements for the second quarter of 2020 showed that the total exports to COMESA member states attained Rs 1,455 million while imports from these countries amounted to around Rs 1,406 million, resulting in a trade surplus of Rs 49 million. Madagascar was the main buyer with a share of 59.4% followed by Kenya (20.8%). Our main suppliers were Kenya (31.5%), Egypt (26.4%) and Seychelles (25.5%). Trade with SADC countries showed a deficit of Rs 1,645 million, resulting from imports of Rs 3,576 million against exports worth Rs 1,931 million. The main suppliers were South Africa (80.5%) and Seychelles (10.0%) and our main buyers were Madagascar (44.7%) and South Africa (38.6%).

The full report can be downloaded from the website of Statistics Mauritius by clicking here.