Total external trade in goods for January to August 2001 amounted to $41.702 billion or 7.4 percent lower than $45.02 billion in 2000. Bill for foreign-made merchandise declined by 0.8 percent to $20.499 billion from $20.655 billion. On the other hand, exports posted a 13.0 percent year-on-year decrease reporting an aggregate dollar revenue of $21.203 billion down from $24.365 billion in 2000. Balance of trade surplus for the Philippines amounted to $704.0 million or 81.0 percent lower than last years $3.710 billion.

AUGUST IMPORTS DECREASE BY 2.2 PERCENT

Total merchandise trade for August 2001, decreased by 15.7 percent to $5.205 billion from $6.172 billion during the same period last year. Dollar-inflow generated by exports amounted to $2.621 billion, or a 25.7 percent decline from last years $3.529 billion, while expenditures for imported goods declined by 2.2 percent to $2.584 billion from $2.643 billion. The BOT-G surplus stood at $37 million.

ELECTRONICS AND COMPONENTS ACCOUNT FOR 19.6 PERCENT OF IMPORT BILL

Accounting for 19.6 percent of the total aggregate import bill, payments forElectronics and Components amounted to $506.90 million or 0.2 percent higher than last year's $506.14 million. Compared to the previous month, dollar-outflow increased by 7.6 percent from $471.3 million.

Purchases of Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials ranked second with a 12.3 percent share. Payments made reached $319.0 million for a 15.7 percent hike over last years $275.79 million.

Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery, the third top import reported purchases worth $266.20 million, or a 5.0 percent decrease from $280.22 million a year earlier.

Office and EDP Machines accounting for 6.9 percent of the total bill, ranked fourth as payments reached $177.91 million, up by 15.6 percent from last year's $153.86 million.

Expenditures for Industrial Machinery and Equipment, combined for a 4.8 percent share of the aggregate bill, which fell by 22.9 percent to $125.19 million from $162.44 million.

Materials/Accessories Imported on Consignment Basis for the Manufacture of Other Electrical and Electronic Machinery and Equipment accounting for 4.3 percent of the total bill, was RPs sixth top import for the month with payments worth $110.16 million or 0.9 percent higher than last years $109.14 million .

Rounding up the list of the top imports for August 2001 were: Textile Yarn, Fabrics, Made-up Articles and Related Products, $92.43 million;Transport Equipment, $88.37 million; Iron and Steel, $78.38 million;Organic and Inorganic Chemical, $61.28 million.

Aggregate payment for the countrys top ten imports for August 2001 amounted to $1.826 billion or 70.7 percent of the total bill.

Fig. 2. Philippine Top Imports in August: 2000 & 2001
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)

CAPITAL GOODS ACCOUNT FOR 36.7 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL IMPORT BILL

Capital Goods accounting for 36.7 percent of the aggregate bill declined by 9.8 percent year-on-year to $948.204 million from $1.051 billion. The group was led by Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery valued at $533.99 million or a 20.7 percent share of the total.

Payments for Raw Materials and Intermediate Goods consisting of unprocessed raw materials and semi-processed raw materials accounted for 38.7 percent of the aggregate bill as importation went down by 3.5 percent to $1.001 billion from $1.037 billion.

Purchases of Mineral Fuel & Lubricant valued at $319.003 million, registered a 15.7 percent increase from $275.78 million.

Expenditures for Consumer Goods increased by 5.1 percent to $232.71 million from $221.39 million, while Special Transactions went up by as much as 45.6 percent to $83.66 million from $57.48 million.

Fig. 3. Philippine Imports by Major Type of Goods in August: 2000 & 2001
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)

JAPAN REGISTER 20.0 PERCENT OF AUGUST IMPORT BILL

Purchases of Japanese made goods, accounting for 20.0 percent of the total import bill, decreased by 3.8 percent to $517.87 million from $538.41 million a year earlier. Exports to Japan, on the other hand amounted to $367.22 million yielding a two-way trade figure of $885.09 million and a trade deficit for RP placed at $150.65 million.

US, the countrys second biggest source of imports with a 16.4 percent share, reported shipments valued at $422.69 million against exports amounting to $728.75 million. Total trade reached $1.151 billion while trade surplus for the Philippines stood at $306.06 million.

Republic of Korea followed as RPs third biggest source of imports. With payments worth $169.56 million, imports from Korea went up by 4.6 percent from $162.14 million while revenue from RPs exports reached $100.07 million resulting to a total trade value of $269.63 million and a $69.49 million deficit for RP.

Other major sources of imports for the month were: ; Singapore, $145.20 million; Taiwan, $134.89 million; Hongkong, $104.30 million; Saudi Arabia, $94.36 million; People's Republic of China, $90.19 million;Thailand, $89.56 million; and Malaysia, $83.90 million.

Payment for imports from the top ten sources for the month amounted to $1.852 billion or 71.7 percent of the total.

Fig. 4. Philippine Imports by Country in August: 2001

UNCOLLECTED DOCUMENTS

As of press time 78 out of 54,947 export documents and 91 out of 59108import documents are still expected from the ports.

Source: National Statistics Office
            Manila, Philippines
 
Page Last Updated: October 23, 2001