TOTAL TRADE GROWS BY 9.6 PERCENT
Total trade in goods for the first two months of the year amounted to $10.753 billion or 9.6 percent higher than $9.807 billion last year. Demand for foreign-made merchandise picked up as payments rose by 10.2 percent to $5.134 billion from $4.656 billion. On the other hand, exports posted a 9.1 percent year-on-year gain reporting an aggregate dollar revenue of $5.619 billion, up from $5.150 billion. Balance of trade surplus for the Philippines amounted to $485 million or a 1.8 percent drop from $494 million last year.
Merchandise trade for the month of February alone grew by 11.6 percent to $5.385 billion from $4.826 billion last year. Dollar inflows generated by rising exports amounted to $2.902 billion in February, representing a 13.0 percent increase from $2.569 billion a year ago, while expenditures for imported goods increased by 10.0 percent to $2.483 billion from $2.257 billion. The BOT-G surplus stood at $419 million.
ELECTRONICS AND COMPONENTS ACCOUNT FOR 26.9 PERCENT OF IMPORT BILL
Accounting for 26.9 percent of the aggregate import bill, payments for Electronics and Components amounted to $668.74 million in February, up from $611.14 million a year earlier. Compared to the previous month however, dollar outflows declined by 6.7 percent from $716.52 million.
Purchases of Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials ranked second with a 10.2 percent share. Payments made reached $252.30 million for a 104.9 percent increase over $123.12 million last year.
Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery emerged as the third top import with purchases reaching $204.86 million, or a 20.3 percent growth from over $170.25 million in 1999.
Industrial Machinery and Equipment accounting for 6.7 percent of the total bill ranked fourth as payments reached $166.60 million, up by 4.6 percent from $159.32 million last year.
Payments for Materials/Accessories Imported on Consignment Basis for the Manufacture of Other Electrical and Electronic Machinery and Equipment combined for a 5.4 percent share of the aggregate bill, which fell by 10.8 percent to $135.26 million from $151.57 million.
Office and EDP Machines accounting for 4.3 percent of the total emerged as the sixth top import for the month with a combined value of $107.36 million or 1.9 percent higher than the previous level which stood at $105.35 million.
Rounding up the list of the top imports for February 2000 were Textile Yarn, Fabrics, Made-up Articles and Related Products, $85.12 million; Iron and Steel, $79.58 million; Transport Equipment, $71.87 million; and Plastics in Primary and Non-Primary Forms, $56.66 million.
Aggregate payment for the top ten imports for the month amounted to $1.828 billion or 73.6 percent of the total bill.
CAPITAL GOODS ACCOUNT FOR 41.2 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL IMPORT BILL
Led by Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery, Capital Goods accounted for 41.2 percent of the aggregate bill. In terms of actual value, importation grew by 10.7 percent to $1.022 billion in February this year from $923.86 million.
Payments for Raw Materials and Intermediate Goods consisting of unprocessed and semi-processed raw materials climbed by 8.2 percent year-on-year to $957.94 million from $885.40 million. The groups share of the aggregate bill was 38.6 percent.
Purchases of Consumer Goods valued at $184.53 million registered a 14.8 percent drop from $216.69 million.
Expenditures for the two other commodity groups, Mineral Fuel & Lubricant and Special Transactions, amounted to $252.30 million and $65.87 million, respectively.
JAPAN TOPS MAJOR SOURCES OF IMPORTS FOR FEBRUARY
Japan, emerging as the countrys biggest source of imports with a 20.6 percent share, reported shipments valued at $512.71 million against purchases amounting to $446.21 million. Total trade reached $958.92 million while a trade deficit stood at $66.50 million.
Purchases of US-made goods, accounting for 19.4 percent of the total, grew by 3.5 percent to $481.44 million from $465.35 million a year back. Exports to the US on the other hand amounted to $878.76 million yielding a two-way trade figure of $1.360 billion and a trade surplus of $397.32 million.
Republic of Korea followed as the third biggest source of imports. Valued at $200.55 million, imports from the Republic of Korea increased by 17.8 percent from $170.26 million while revenue from exports reached $108.77 million resulting to a total trade value of $309.32 million and a $91.78 million deficit.
Other major sources of imports for the month were Singapore, $183.66 million; Taiwan, $133.71; Malaysia, $96.23 million; Hongkong, $95.51 million; Saudi Arabia, $89.90 million; Indonesia, $72.17 million; and Thailand, $65.18 million.
Payment for imports from the top ten sources for the month amounted to $1.931 billion or 77.8 percent of the total.
UNCOLLECTED DOCUMENTS
As of presstime, 66 out of 55,359 export documents and 81 out of 55,045 import documents are still expected from the ports.
Source: National Statistics Office
Manila, Philippines
