JANUARY TO OCTOBER TOTAL TRADE STANDS AT $56.965 BILLION
Total external trade in goods for January to October 2002 amounted to $56.965 billion or 9.0 percent higher than $52.244 billion in 2001. The bill for foreign-made merchandise moved up by 10.0 percent to $27.916 billion from $25.369 billion. On the other hand, exports posted a year-on-year growth rate of 8.1 percent to an aggregate dollar revenue of $29.049 billion from $26.875 billion a year ago. Balance of trade surplus for the Philippines reached $1.133 billion or 24.7 percent lower than last year's $1.506 billion.
Fig. 1A.Philippine Trade Performance in January - October : 2001 & 2002
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)
Fig. 1B. Philippine Trade Performance in October: 2001 & 2002
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)
OCTOBER IMPORTS MOVED UP BY 17.6 PERCENT
Total merchandise trade for October 2002 grew by 9.3 percent to $5.804 billion from $5.312 billion during the same period a year earlier. Dollar-inflow generated by exports amounted to $3.016 billion, or 2.6 percent higher than last year's $2.941 billion. Likewise, expenditures for imported goods went up by 17.6 percent to $2.787 billion from $2.371 billion. The BOT-G surplus registered $229 million, or a 59.8 percent drop compared to last year's $570 million.
ELECTRONICS AND COMPONENTS ACCOUNT FOR 25.5 PERCENT OF IMPORT BILL
Accounting for 25.5 percent of the total aggregate import bill, payments forElectronics and Components posted $711.76 million or 94.0 percent higher than last year's $366.97 million. Compared to the previous month, dollar-outflow decreased by 13.6 percent from $824.05 million.
Purchases of Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials ranked second with 9.8 percent share. Payments made was placed at $271.88. million for a 2.4 percent increase over last year's $265.58 million.
Office and EDP Machines, the third top import reported purchases worth $266.36 million, or a 29.7 percent increase from $205.43 million last year.
Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery accounting for 8.4 percent of the total import bill, ranked fourth as payments amounted to $232.77 million, down by 14.1 percent from last year's $270.87 million.
Expenditures for Industrial Machinery and Equipment, contributing 4.2 percent share to the aggregate bill, decreased by 0.1 percent to $116.48 million from $116.56 million in October 2001.
Transport Equipment, contributing 3.9 percent to the total bill, was RP's sixth top import for the month with payments posted at $109.42 million or 12.8 percent higher than last year's $97.05 million.
Rounding up the list of the top imports for October 2002 were: Textile Yarn, Fabrics, Made-up Articles and Related Products, $91.61 million;Materials/Accessories Imported on Consignment Basis for the Manufacture of Other Electrical and Electronic Machinery and Equipment, $86.49 million; Cereals and Cereal Preparations, $84.93 million; and Organic and Inorganic Chemical, $61.29 million.
Aggregate payment for the country's top ten imports for October 2002 amounted to $2.033 billion or 72.9 percent of the total bill.
Fig. 2. Philippine Top Imports in October 2001 & 2002
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)
CAPITAL GOODS ACCOUNT FOR 39.7 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL IMPORT BILL
Capital Goods comprising 39.7 percent of the aggregate bill went up by 19.9 percent year-on-year to $1.107 billion from $923.0 million. The group was led by Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machineryvalued at $601.70 million or a 21.6 percent share of the total.
Payments for Raw Materials and Intermediate Goods consisting ofUnprocessed Raw Materials and Semi-processed Raw Materialsaccounted for 37.1 percent of the aggregate bill as importation grew by 14.0 percent to $1.033 billion from last year's $906.21 million.
Expenditures for Consumer Goods increased by 28.6 percent to $272.77 million from $212.08 million after a year.
Purchases of Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials valued at $271.88 million, registered a 2.4 percent gain from $265.58 million in October 2001, while Special Transactions increased by 61.5 percent to $103.16 million from $63.87 million.
Fig. 3. Philippine Imports by Major Type of Goods in October: 2001 & 2002>
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)
JAPAN CORNERS 22.8 PERCENT OF OCTOBER IMPORT BILL
Purchases of Japanese made goods, accounting for 22.8 percent of the total import bill, increased by 24.1 percent to $634.25 million from $511.24 million a year earlier. On the other hand, exports to Japan, registered at $430.75 million yielded a two-way trade figure of $1.065 billion and a trade deficit for RP placed at $203.50 million.
US, the country's second biggest source of imports with 15.6 percent share, reported shipments valued at $434.37 million against exports amounting to $679.18 million. Total trade amounted to $1.114 billion with trade surplus for the Philippines placed at $244.81 million.
Republic of Korea followed as RP's third biggest source of imports. With payments worth $199.28 million, imports from Korea accelerated by 13.3 percent from $175.91 million while revenue from RP's exports reached $123.96 million resulting to a total trade value of $323.24 million and a $75.33 million deficit for RP.
Other major sources of imports for the month of October were: ;Singapore, $177.37 million; Hongkong, $134.39 million; Taiwan,$128.18 million; People's Republic of China, $123.0 million; Malaysia, $112.07 million; Saudi Arabia, $111.06 million; and Thailand, $95.89 million.
Payments for imports from the top ten sources for the month amounted to $2.150 billion or 77.1 percent of the total.
Fig. 4. Philippine Imports by Country in October: 2002
As of press time 65 out of 62,272 export documents and 98 out of66,528 import documents are still expected from the ports.
Source: National Statistics Office
Manila, Philippines
