Algeria's trade surplus hits $5.8bn in first 10 months of 2014

Algeria recorded a trade surplus of US$ 5.86 billion during the first ten months of 2014, against US$ 7.63 billion during the same period in 2013, down by over 23%, said Sunday Algerian Customs' National Centre of Data Processing and Statistics (CNIS).
From January to October 2014, Algeria's exports amounted to US$ 54.46 bn, against US$ 53.89 bn during the same period a year earlier, up by 1.04%, while imports totalled US$ 48.6 bn, against US$ 46.25 bn, up by 5.1%, according to figures provided by CNIS.
These figures show a 112 percent coverage rate of imports by exports during the first ten months of 2014, against a 117 percent during the same period in 2013.
Hydrocarbons continue to represent the bulk of Algeria's exports with 95.86 percent of its overall sales abroad, totalling US$ 52.21 bn from January to October 2014, against US$ 52.15 bn, while non-hydrocarbon exports represented only 4.14 percent of the overall sales abroad, amounting to US$ 2.25 bn during the same period of reference, said CNIS.
The non-hydrocarbon exports include semi-finished products, which totalled US$ 1.88 bn, foodstuffs (US$ 250 million), raw products (US$ 92 million), industrial capital goods (US$ 15 million) and non-food consumer goods (US$ 8 million).
In imports, a significant decrease was recorded in energy and lubricants (-41.53%) and non-food consumer goods (-7.07%), while foodstuffs went up by +17.86%, industrial capital goods (+14.50%) and agricultural capital goods (+28.5%), said the source.
Algeria's major trading customers were Spain with US$ 7.76 bn, Italy (US$ 7.11 bn), France (US$ 5.33 bn), the United Kingdom (US$ 4.83 bn) and teh Netherland (US$ 4.18 bn).
Its main suppliers were China with US$ 6.78 bn, followed by France (US$ 4.42 bn), Italy (US$ 4.22 bn), Spain (US$ 4.20 bn), Germany (US$ 3.15 bn) and the United States (US$ 2.27 bn).