January to April total trade stands at $23.549 billion
Total external trade in goods for January to April 2003 amounted to $23.549 billion or 8.1 percent higher than $21.785 billion in 2002. The bill for foreign-made merchandise went up by 13.0 percent to $12.344 billion from $10.928 billion. Likewise, exports recorded a year-on-year growth rate of 3.2 percent to an aggregate dollar revenue of $11.205 billion from $10.857 billion a year earlier. Balance of trade deficit for the Philippines reached $1.138 billion compared to last years value which stood at $71 million.
Figure 1A. Philippine Trade Performance: January - April: 2002 and 2003
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)
Figure 1B. Philippine Trade Performance: April 2002 and 2003
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)
Note: All figures are based on the final import statistics based on the Survey on Imported Raw Materials.
April imports declined by 7.6 percent
Total merchandise trade for April 2003 went down by 5.0 percent to $5.883 billion from $6.195 billion during the same period last year. Dollar-inflow generated by exports amounted to $2.698 billion, or 1.9 percent lower than last years $2.749 billion. Similarly, expenditures for imported goods slowed down by 7.6 percent to $3.186 billion from $3.446 billion. The BOT-G deficit registered $488 million, or an improvement of 30.0 percent compared to last years $697 million.
Electronic products account for 44.2 percent of import bill
Accounting for 44.2 percent of the total aggregate import bill, payments for electronic products amounted to $1.410 billion or 20.8 percent lower than last year's $1.779 billion. Compared to the previous month, dollar-outflow decreased by 11.4 percent from $1.590 billion.
Purchases of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials ranked second with 9.6 percent share. Payments made at $307.01 million, posted a 5.9 percent decrease over the previous level which stood at $326.35 million.
Iron and steel, the third top import reported purchases worth $148.68 million, or a 45.7 percent increase from $102.06 million last year.
Industrial machinery and equipment accounting for 4.2 percent of the total import bill, ranked fourth as payments amounted to $135.46 million, up by 5.6 percent from last year's $128.21 million.
Expenditures for transport equipment, with a 3.8 percent share to the aggregate bill, grew by 35.9 percent to $122.75 million from $90.34 million in April 2002.
Textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products, contributing 3.2 percent to the total bill, was RPs sixth top import for the month with payments recorded at $103.26 million or 9.2 percent lower than last years $113.79 million.
Rounding up the list of the top imports for April 2003 were: telecommunication equipment and electrical machinery, $68.67 million; plastics in primary and nonprimary forms, $68.44 million; organic and inorganic chemical, $68.20 million; and cereals and cereal preparation, $61.83 million.
Aggregate payment for the countrys top ten imports for April 2003 amounted to $2.432 billion or 76.4 percent of the total bill.
Figure 2. Philippine Top Imports: April 2002 and 2003
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)
Raw materials and intermediate goods account for 41.7 percent of the total import bill
Payments for raw materials and intermediate goods consisting of unprocessed raw materials and semiprocessed raw materials accounted for 41.7 percent of the aggregate bill as importation declined by 12.6 percent to $1.329 billion from last years figure at $1.521 billion.
Capital goods comprising 38.1 percent of the aggregate bill decreased by 5.3 percent year-on-year to $1.212 billion from $1.281 million. The group was led bytelecommunication equipment and electrical machinery valued at $654.35 million or a 20.5 percent share of the total.
Expenditures for mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials went down by 5.9 percent to $307.01 million from $326.35 million during the same period last year.
Purchases of consumer goods valued at $234.70 million, registered a 21.5 percent increase from $193.19 million in April 2002, while special transactions decreased by 18.0 percent to $102.56 million from $125.15 million.
Figure 3. Philippine Imports by Major Type of Goods: April: 2002 and 2003
Japan corners 20.4 percent of april import bill
Imports from Japan accounting for 20.4 percent of the total import bill, went down by 6.9 percent to $650.85 million from $698.82 million during the same period a year earlier. On the other hand, exports to Japan, amounted to $407.16 million yielding a two-way trade value of $1.058 billion and a trade deficit for RP placed at $243.68 million.
USA, the countrys second biggest source of imports with a 19.8 percent share, reported shipments valued at $631.43 million against exports amounting to $525.35 million. Total trade amounted to $1.157 billion while the trade deficit for the Philippines was registered at $106.08 million.
Singapore, followed as RPs third biggest source of imports. With payments worth $195.27 million, imports from Singapore decreased by 8.4 percent from $213.21 million while revenue from RPs exports reached $187.99 million resulting to a total trade value of $383.26 million and a $7.28 million deficit for RP.
Other major sources of imports for the month of April were: Republic of Korea, $190.77 million; Taiwan, $157.68 million; Hong Kong, $143.38 million; Peoples Republic of China, $134.35 million; Saudi Arabia, $112.07 million; Thailand, $110.24 million; andMalaysia, $101.84 million.
Payments for imports from the top ten sources for the month amounted to $2.428 billion or 76.2 percent of the total.
Figure 4. Philippine Imports by Country: April: 2003
As of press time 103 out of 57,221 export documents and 84 out of 71,640 import documents are still expected from the ports.
Source: National Statistics Office
Manila, Philippines
