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Fact sheet on Algeria’s foreign trade

(January – April 2019)

 

 

  • Trade between Algeria and the outside world during the first four months of 2019 reached USD 28.5 billion, including USD 13.33 billion exports and USD 15.17 billion imports. These figures show a trade deficit around USD 1.84 billion and coverage of imports by exports at rate of 88%.

 

  • Hydrocarbons represent the main Algerian sales abroad from January to April 2019, stansinf at USD 12.470 billion (93.59% of the total amount of exports), against USD 12.559 billion during the same period in 2018. Still trivial, non-hydrocarbon exports represent 6.46% of the overall volume of exports, i.e USD 862 million. They decreased by 11.60% compared to the same period in 2018.

 

  • Non-hydrocarbon exports included mainly semi-finished products (fertilizers, oils, ammonia, sugars, cements, phosphates,…) which represent 71.63% of the global non-hydrocarbon exports, i.e USD 617.37 million. They also consisted of foodstuffs with 18.76% (USD 161.70 million), raw products (4.51%), industrial equipments (3.69%), non-food consumer products (1.39%) and of agricultural equipments (0.02%).

 

  • Imports recorded a slight drop of 1.30%, moving from USD 15.17 billion during the first four months in 2019, to USD 15.37 billion, for the same period in 2018. They are composed of capital goods (34.47%), equipments for production tool (25.60%), non-food consumer products (14.27%) and of foodstuffs (18.57%).

 

  • It should be noted that the bill of energy products has registered a significant drop (-60.80%), to reach USD 212.95 million during the first four months of 2019, against USD 544 million during the same period of 2018, due to the start of operations of two refineries (Baraki and Skikda) which were under renovation. For its part, the import invoice for agricultural  equipment goods amounted to USD 174.84 million during the first four months of 2019 compared to USD 190.37 million during the same period of 2018 (-8.15%). Also the food bill has dropped. It stood at USD 2.817 billion against USD 3.178 billion in the first four months of 2018 (-11.35%)

 

  • The analysis of the geographical structure of Algeria’s foreign trade confirms the privileged position of the European Union (EU) as the main destination of Algerian exports and the first source of our imports.

 

  • The main European partners during the first four months of 2019 are Italy, France, Spain and Germany respectively. While the main non-EU partners are: China, United States of America, Turkey, Brazil, Great Britain and India.

 

  • Thus during the first four months of 2019, Algeria’s top five client countries are: Italy, with USD 2.395 billion (17.97% of total exports), followed by France with USD 1.717 billion (12.89%), Spain with USD 1.677 billion (12.58%), United States with USD 1.017 billion (7.63%), Turkey with USD 918 million (6.89%) and Great Britain with USD 724.8 million (7.34%)

 

  • Algeria’s first five main suppliers are China with USD 2.96 billion (19.53%) of Algeria’s overall imports), followed by France with 1.493 billion (9.84%), Spain with USD 1.130 billion (7.45%), Germany with USD 1.118 billion (7.37%) and Italy with USD 1.113 billion (7.34%)

 

  • In addition, Asia comes at the position of the second regional partner of our country, with USD 6.74 billion. China is the largest trading partner of our country in this region, followed by India and the Republic of Korea.

 

  • The overall volume of trade with other geographic regions (America and Oceania) during the first four months of 2019 is 19% lower than in the same period of 2018, moving from USD 6.14 billion to USD 4.98 billion.

 

  • Regarding the exchanges with Arab world and the African continent, they remain below the potentialities that conceal these two regions. Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia are considered as the first partner countries of Algeria in the Arab world.

 

  • In Africa, the main partner countries of Algeria are: Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, Botswana, Togo and Ghana.

 

  • Finally, it should be noted that according to the Algerian Customs, the shortfall of the Treasury in customs duties (preferential benefits granted to goods or European origin) is estimated at more than 19.3 billion dinars (about 130 million Euros) for the first two months of 2019 alone.

 

  • Moreover, for the same period, the shortfall in customs duties due to the granting of preferential benefits to the original goods of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area is estimated at more than 2.85 billion dinars (approximately 19.5 million Euros)

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