Exports up 34.2% y/y in April 2019
In April 2019, exports increased 34.2% y/y to US$ 307.4mn, while imports were down 0.5% y/y to US$ 731.0mn and the trade deficit narrowed 16.2% y/y to US$ 423.6mn, according to Geostat.
In April 2019, copper (+268.1% y/y), cars (+98.8% y/y), ferro-alloys (-26.9% y/y), pharmaceuticals (+140.4% y/y) and wine (-0.7% y/y) were the top 5 exported commodities. A 26.1% of exports was directed to the EU (+148.3% y/y), 52.2% to the CIS (+26.3% y/y) and 21.7% to other countries (-4.5% y/y).
In April 2019, copper (+76.9% y/y), petroleum (-5.7% y/y), cars (+1.4% y/y), pharmaceuticals (+22.4% y/y) and gases (+32.1% y/y) represented the top 5 imported commodities.
Overall, in 4M19, the trade deficit was down 14.0% y/y at US$ 1.6bn as exports were up 17.9% y/y to US$ 1.1bn, while imports decreased by 3.1% y/y to US$ 2.7bn.
Producer price index up 5.7% y/y in April 2019
Annual PPI was up 5.7% in April 2019 after increasing 5.4% in previous month. Rising prices in manufacturing (+6.7% y/y) contributed the most to the overall index change. In this category, the price growth was impacted by price increase in food products, beverages and tobacco products (7.8% y/y), basic metals and fabricated metal products (4.9% y/y) and for pulp, paper and paper products (16.6%).
