JANUARY TO SEPTEMBER TOTAL TRADE STANDS AT $51.161 BILLION

Total external trade in goods for January to September 2002 amounted to $51.161 billion or 9.0 percent higher than $46.933 billion in 2001. The bill for foreign-made merchandise went up by 9.3 percent to $25.129 billion from $22.999 billion. Likewise, exports posted a year-on-year growth rate of 8.8 percent to an aggregate dollar revenue of $26.033 billion from $23.934 billion a year earlier. Balance of trade surplus for the Philippines reached to $904 million or 3.4 percent lower than last year's $936 million.

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

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

SEPTEMBER IMPORTS MOVED UP BY 20.8 PERCENT

Total merchandise trade for September 2002 increased by 18.6 percent to $6.204 billion from $5.230 billion during the same period last year. Dollar-inflow generated by exports amounted to $3.184 billion, or a 16.6 percent higher from last year's $2.731 billion. On the other hand, expenditures for imported goods went up by 20.8 percent to $3.020 billion from $2.499 billion. The BOT-G surplus posted $164 million, or a 29.4 percent decline over last year's $232 million.

ELECTRONICS AND COMPONENTS ACCOUNT FOR 27.3 PERCENT OF IMPORT BILL

Accounting for 27.3 percent of the total aggregate import bill, payments for Electronics and Components registered $823.73 million or 75.8 percent higher than last year's $468.52 million. Compared to the previous month, dollar-outflow went down by 15.1 percent from $969.83 million.

Purchases of Office and EDP Machines ranked second with 10.3 percent share. Payments made was placed at $310.51. million for a 50.9 percent increase over last year's $205.73 million.

Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials, the third top import reported purchases worth $291.67 million, or a 2.8 percent decrease from $299.92 million last year.

Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery accounting for 7.1 percent of the total import bill, ranked fourth as payments posted $215.37 million, down by 13.9 percent from last year's $250.08 million.

Expenditures for Industrial Machinery and Equipment, contributing 4.4 percent share to the aggregate bill, increased by 23.7 percent to $132.65 million from $107.27 million in September 2001.

Cereals and Cereal Preparations, having a 4.1 percent of the total bill, was RP's sixth top import for the month with payments recorded at $124.10 million or 103.6 percent higher than last year's $60.94 million.

Rounding up the list of the top imports for September 2002 were: Transport Equipment, $103.07 million; Iron and Steel, $100.78 million; Textile Yarn, Fabrics, Made-up Articles and Related Products, $90.17 million; and Materials/Accessories Imported on Consignment Basis for the Manufacture of Other Electrical and Electronic Machinery and Equipment, $77.06 million.

Aggregate payment for the country's top ten imports for September 2002 amounted to $2.269 billion or 75.1 percent of the total bill.

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

CAPITAL GOODS ACCOUNT FOR 40.0 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL IMPORT BILL

Capital Goods comprising 40.0 percent of the aggregate bill moved up by 29.9 percent year-on-year to $1.209 billion from $930.69 million. The group was led by Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery valued at $643.98 million or a 21.3 percent share of the total.

Payments for Raw Materials and Intermediate Goods consisting of Unprocessed Raw Materials and Semi-processed Raw Materials accounted for 38.4 percent of the aggregate bill as importation went up by 17.8 percent to $1.158 billion from last year's $983.82 million.

Expenditures for Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials decreased by 2.8 percent to $291.67 million from $299.92 million after a year.

Purchases of Consumer Goods valued at $267.15 million, registered a 20.6 percent gain from $221.56 million in September 2001, while Special Transactions increased by 48.1 percent to $94.03 million from $63.48 million.

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

JAPAN CORNERS 20.7 PERCENT OF SEPTEMBER IMPORT BILL

Purchases of Japanese made goods, accounting for 20.7 percent of the total import bill, gained by 23.2 percent to $624.90 million from $507.38 million a year earlier. Exports to Japan, on the other hand, recorded $436.71 million yielded a two-way trade figure of $1.062 billion and a trade deficit for RP placed at $188.19 million.

US, the country's second biggest source of imports with 19.0 percent share, reported shipments valued at $575.10 million against exports amounting to $834.09 million. Total trade amounted to $1.409 billion with trade surplus for the Philippines placed at $258.98 million.

Republic of Korea followed as RP's third biggest source of imports. With payments worth $196.04 million, imports from Korea increased by 6.3 percent from $184.42 million while revenue from RP's exports reached $118.66 million resulting to a total trade value of $314.70 million and a $77.37 million deficit for RP.

Other major sources of imports for the month of September were: ; Singapore, $182.37 million; Hongkong, $163.40 million; Taiwan, $136.15 million;; People�s Republic of China, $115.85 million; Malaysia, $103.43 million; Thailand, $100.25 million; and Saudi Arabia, $93.62 million.

Payments for imports from the top ten sources for the month amounted to $2.291 billion or 75.8 percent of the total.

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

UNCOLLECTED DOCUMENTS

As of press time 86 out of 62,400 export documents and 102 out of 68,537 import documents are still expected from the ports.

Source: National Statistics Office
              Manila, Philippines