Exports declined 14.5 percent to USD 13.72 billion from USD 16.05 billion a year earlier, dragged by lower sales of primary goods (-22.4 percent) and industrial products (-7.6 percent), of which manufactured (-8.6 percent) and semimanufactured (-5.2 percent). Among major trading partners, exports decreased to the Euro Area (-11.3 percent), China (-1.5 percent), the US (-11.2 percent) and Argentina (-1.4 percent).
Imports shrank 19.1 percent to USD 11.38 billion from USD 14.05 billion in October 2015, as purchases fell the most for fuels and lubricants (-55.1 percent), consumer goods (-17.5 percent), intermediate goods (-8.7 percent) and capital goods (-23.7 percent). Among major trading partners, imports went down to the Euro Area (-11.6 percent), China (-9.2 percent), the US (-11.5 percent) and Argentina (-15.2 percent).
Considering the January-October period, the trade surplus widened sharply to USD 38.53 billion compared to USD 12.25 billion the same period in 2015, as exports fell 4.6 percent to USD 153.09 billion while imports shrank 22.7 percent to USD 114.56 billion.