The trade gap in Latvia decreased to EUR 225.9 million in June of 2019 from EUR 301.6 million in the same month a year earlier. Exports dropped 8.2 percent to EUR 982.9 million, dragged down by lower sales of wood & articles of wood (-9.0 percent); electrical machinery & equipment (-4.7 percent) and machinery & mechanical appliances (-36.2 percent). Main export partners were: Lithuania (17.8 percent of total exports), Estonia (12.5 percent), Germany (6.7 percent) and Sweden (6.6 percent). Imports went down at a faster 11.9 percent to EUR 1,209 million, driven by lower purchases of electrical machinery & equipment (-1.2 percent); vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock (-4.8 percent) and machinery & mechanical appliances (-39.8 percent). The most important import partners were: Lithuania (18.4 percent of total imports), Germany (11.4 percent), Poland (9.4 percent) and Estonia (9.2 percent). Balance of Trade in Latvia averaged -169.34 EUR Million from 1993 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 40.10 EUR Million in February of 1993 and a record low of -557.20 EUR Million in July of 2007.
Balance of Trade in Latvia is expected to be -330.00 EUR Million by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Balance of Trade in Latvia to stand at -300.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Latvia Balance of Trade is projected to trend around -230.00 EUR Million in 2020, according to our econometric models.