JANUARY TO AUGUST TOTAL TRADE STANDS AT $44.956 BILLION

Total external trade in goods for January to August 2002 amounted to $44.956 billion or 7.8 percent higher than $41.702 billion in 2001. The bill for foreign-made merchandise moved up by 7.8 percent to $22.108 billion from $20.499 billion. On the other hand, exports posted the same growth rate of 7.8 percent year-on-year to an aggregate dollar revenue of $22.849 billion from $21.203 billion a year earlier. Balance of trade surplus for the Philippines reached to $741 million or 5.3 percent higher than last year's $704 million.

Fig. 1A.Philippine Trade Performance in January - August : 2001 & 2002
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)

Fig. 1B. Philippine Trade Performance in August: 2001 & 2002
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)

AUGUST IMPORTS WENT UP BY 22.4 PERCENT

Total merchandise trade for August 2002 increased by 18.2 percent to $6.153 billion from $5.205 billion during the same period a year earlier. Dollar-inflow generated by exports amounted to $2.990 billion, or a 14.1 percent increase from last year's $2.621 billion. Likewise, expenditures for imported goods gained by 22.4 percent to $3.164 billion from $2.584 billion. The BOT-G deficit was recorded at $174 million, or a 575.8 percent decline over last year's surplus placed at $37 million.

ELECTRONICS AND COMPONENTS ACCOUNT FOR 30.6 PERCENT OF IMPORT BILL

Accounting for 30.6 percent of the total aggregate import bill, payments for Electronics and Components was placed at $967.71 million or 87.5 percent higher than last year's $516.21 million. Compared to the previous month, dollar-outflow went up by 24.4 percent from $777.80 million.

Purchases of Office and EDP Machines ranked second with 9.9 percent share. Payments made registered $312.82 million for a 73.9 percent increase over last year's $179.87 million.

Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials, the third top import reported purchases worth $230.57 million, or a 27.8 percent decrease from $319.12 million last year.

Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery accounting for 6.7 percent of the total import bill, ranked fourth as payments posted $211.52 million, lower by 21.3 percent from last year's $268.71 million.

Expenditures for Industrial Machinery and Equipment, contributing 5.0 percent share to the aggregate bill, went up by 25.8 percent to $157.48 million from $125.22 million in August 2001.

Iron and Steel, accounting for 3.6 percent of the total bill, was RP's sixth top import for the month with payments recorded at $114.74 million or 45.8 percent higher than last year's $78.67 million.

Rounding up the list of the top imports for August 2002 were: Transport Equipment, $103.80 million; Textile Yarn, Fabrics, Made-up Articles and Related Products, $99.84 million; Materials/Accessories Imported on Consignment Basis for the Manufacture of Other Electrical and Electronic Machinery and Equipment, $95.65 million; and Cereals and Cereal Preparations, $72.22 million.

Aggregate payment for the country's top ten imports for August 2002 amounted to $2.366 billion or 74.8 percent of the total bill.

Fig. 2. Philippine Top Imports in August 2001 & 2002
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)

RAW MATERIALS AND INTERMEDIATE GOODS ACCOUNT FOR 41.8 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL IMPORT BILL

Payments for Raw Materials and Intermediate Goods consisting of Unprocessed Raw Materials and Semi-processed Raw Materials accounted for 41.8 percent of the aggregate bill as importation increased by 31.1 percent to $1.322 billion from last year's $1.009 billion.

Capital Goods comprising 40.1 percent of the aggregate bill rose by 33.1 percent year-on-year to $1.268 billion from $952.99 million. The group was led by Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery valued at $655.90 million or a 20.7 percent share of the total.

Purchases of Consumer Goods valued at $238.76 million, registered a 4.7 percent gain from $228.07 million in August 2001.

Expenditures for Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials went down by 27.8 percent to $230.57 million from $319.12 million after a year, while Special Transactions went up by 38.4 percent to $103.90 million from $75.05 million.

Fig. 3. Philippine Imports by Major Type of Goods in August: 2001 & 2002
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)

JAPAN CORNERS 21.0 PERCENT OF AUGUST IMPORT BILL

Purchases of Japanese made goods, accounting for 21.0 percent of the total import bill, increased by 27.4 percent to $665.44 million from $522.34 million a year earlier. Exports to Japan, on the other hand at $415.70 million yielded a two-way trade figure of $1.081 billion and a trade deficit for RP placed at $249.75 million.

US, the country's second biggest source of imports with 20.0 percent share, reported shipments valued at $633.76 million against exports amounting to $769.97 million. Total trade amounted to $1.404 billion with trade surplus for the Philippines at $136.22 million.

Republic of Korea followed as RP's third biggest source of imports. With payments worth $195.77 million, imports from Korea went up by 15.4 percent from $169.64 million while revenue from RP's exports reached $117.87 million resulting to a total trade value of $313.63 million and a $77.90 million deficit for RP.

Other major sources of imports for the month were: ; Singapore, $193.99 million; Hongkong, $149.96 million; Taiwan, $148.88 million; Malaysia, $124.70 million; People's Republic of China, $120.06 million; Thailand, $101.61 million; and Saudi Arabia, $89.21 million.

Payment for imports from the top ten sources for the month amounted to $2.423 billion or 76.6 percent of the total.

Fig. 4. Philippine Imports by Country in August: 2002

UNCOLLECTED DOCUMENTS

As of press time 52 out of 62,910 export documents and 74 out of 70,430 import documents are still expected from the ports.

Source: National Statistics Office
              Manila, Philippines