JANUARY TO NOVEMBER TOTAL TRADE STANDS AT $56.912 BILLION
Total external trade in goods for January to November 2001 amounted to $56.912 billion or 10.7 percent lower than $63.732 billion in 2000. Bill for foreign-made merchandise declined by 6.0 percent to $27.408 billion from $29.150 billion. Likewise, exports posted a 14.7 percent year-on-year decrease reporting an aggregate dollar revenue of $29.504 billion down from $34.582 billion a year earlier. Balance of trade surplus for the Philippines amounted to $2.097 billion or 61.4 percent lower than last years $5.432 billion.
Fig. 1A.Philippine Trade Performance in January November : 2000 & 2001
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)
Fig. 1B. Philippine Trade Performance in November : 2000 & 2001
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)
NOVEMBER IMPORTS DECLINED BY 23.6 PERCENT
Total merchandise trade for November 2001, declined by 22.0 percent to $4.668 billion from $5.985 billion during the same period last year. Dollar-inflow generated by exports amounted to $2.630 billion, or a 20.7 percent decrease from last years $3.317 billion, while expenditures for imported goods declined by 23.6 percent to $2.039 billion from $2.669 billion. The BOT-G surplus stood at $591 million.
ELECTRONICS AND COMPONENTS ACCOUNT FOR 16.0 PERCENT OF IMPORT BILL
Accounting for 16.0 percent of the total aggregate import bill, payments forElectronics and Components amounted to $327.08 million or 43.8 percent lower than last year's $582.32 million. Compared to the previous month, dollar-outflow declined by 10.9 percent from $366.96 million.
Purchases of Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machineryranked second with 12.2 percent share. Payments made reached $249.23 million for a 20.1 percent increase over last years $207.50 million.
Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials, the third top import reported purchases worth $210.46 million, or a 49.6 percent decrease from $417.92 million a year earlier.
Office and EDP Machines accounting for 8.9 percent of the total bill, ranked fourth as payments reached $181.70 million, higher by as much as 49.6 percent from last year's $121.42 million.
Expenditures for Industrial Machinery and Equipment, combined for a 5.4 percent share of the aggregate bill, which decreased by 26.6 percent to $110.41 million from $150.37 million.
Materials/Accessories Imported on Consignment Basis for the Manufacture of Other Electrical and Electronic Machinery and Equipment accounting for 4.8 percent of the total bill, was RPs sixth top import for the month with payments worth $97.94 million or 14.5 percent lower than last years $114.57 million.
Rounding up the list of the top imports for November 2001 were: Transport Equipment, $81.29 million; Textile Yarn, Fabrics, Made-up Articles and Related Products, $75.75 million; Iron and Steel, $62.71million; Plastics in Primary and Non-Primary Forms, $46.47 million.
Aggregate payment for the countrys top ten imports for November 2001 amounted to $1.443 billion or 70.8 percent of the total bill.
Fig. 2. Philippine Top Imports in November: 2000 & 2001
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)
CAPITAL GOODS ACCOUNT FOR 41.4 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL IMPORT BILL
Capital Goods accounting for 41.4 percent of the aggregate bill declined by 12.8 percent year-on-year growth to $843.80 million from $967.92 million. The group was led by Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery valued at $452.46 million or a 22.2 percent share of the total.
Payments for Raw Materials and Intermediate Goods consisting of unprocessed raw materials and semi-processed raw materials accounted for 36.8 percent of the aggregate bill even as importation went down by 27.3 percent to $749.990 million from $1.032 billion.
Purchases of Mineral Fuel & Lubricant valued at $210.46 million, registered a 49.6 percent decrease from $417.92 million.
Expenditures for Consumer Goods declined by 2.8 percent to $196.24 million from $201.96 million, while Special Transactions went down by 22.4 percent to $38.12 million from $49.09 million.
Fig. 3. Philippine Imports by Major Type of Goods in November : 2000 & 2001
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)
JAPAN CORNERS 22.3 PERCENT OF NOVEMBER IMPORT BILL
Purchases of Japanese made goods, accounting for 22.3 percent of the total import bill, decreased by 10.5 percent to $455.01 million from $508.59 million a year earlier. Exports to Japan, on the other hand amounted to $350.81 million yielding a two-way trade figure of $805.82 million and a trade deficit for RP placed at $104.20 million.
US, the countrys second biggest source of imports with a 13.2 percent share, reported shipments valued at $269.18 million against exports amounting to $701.70 million. Total trade reached $970.88 million while trade surplus for the Philippines stood at $432.52 million.
Republic of Korea followed as RPs third biggest source of imports. With payments worth $163.46 million, imports from Korea went down by 5.7 percent from $173.26 million while revenue from RPs exports reached $108.49 million resulting to a total trade value of $271.95 million and a $54.97 million deficit for RP.
Other major sources of imports for the month were: ; Singapore, $125.94 million; Hongkong, $109.50 million; Taiwan, $94.74 million; People's Republic of China, $89.77 million; Iran, $57.74 million; Indonesia, $57.30 million; and Thailand, $57.10 million.
Payment for imports from the top ten sources for the month amounted to $1.48 billion or 72.6 percent of the total.
Fig. 4. Philippine Imports by Country in November: 2001
UNCOLLECTED DOCUMENTS
As of press time 89 out of 52,231 export documents and 102 out of 50,653import documents are still expected from the ports.
Source: National Statistics Office
Manila, Philippines
