The National Bank of Belgium (NBB) has released a preliminary estimate indicating a significant decline in the value of both imports and exports in June.

According to this initial assessment, both imports and exports saw a sharp drop of 16.8% in June. The NBB has also revised its figures for May, revising last month's initial estimates downward: exports decreased by 18.1%, and imports by 18.5%. Originally, the NBB had anticipated a decrease of 16.5% for both categories.

The NBB highlights that price effects contributed to the growth slowdown in the first quarter. However, during the second quarter, the decrease in trade volumes became more pronounced, leading to a further deceleration in export values.

Notably, the sectors that experienced the most substantial declines were chemicals and mineral products, diamonds, plastics, and base metals. On the other hand, there were increases in trade involving transport equipment, machinery, and food.

Belgium's export trajectory saw its first contraction in two years in February, followed by even more significant declines in the subsequent months. Additionally, the value of imports has been on a downward trend for the past four months. Photo by MADe at Dutch Wikipedia.