JANUARY TO FEBRUARY TOTAL TRADE STANDS AT $9.476 BILLION

Total external trade in goods for January to February 2002 amounted to $9.476 billion or 8.5 percent lower than $10.359 billion in 2001. The bill for foreign-made merchandise declined by 9.6 percent to $4.217 billion from $4.665 billion. Likewise, exports posted a 7.6 percent year-on-year decrease to an aggregate dollar revenue of $5.259 billion from $5.694 billion a year earlier. Balance of trade surplus for the Philippines amounted to $1.042 billion or 1.3 percent higher than last year's $1.030 billion.

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

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

FEBRUARY IMPORTS INCREASED BY 0.6 PERCENT

A 0.6 percent increase in imports to $2.207 billion from $2.193 billion, caused the total merchandise trade for February 2002 to decline by 3.3 percent to $4.835 billion from $4.999 billion during the same period last year. Meanwhile, dollar-inflow generated by exports amounted to $2.628 billion, or a 6.3 percent decrease from last year's $2.805 billion.. The BOT-G surplus stood at $421 million, or a 31.2 percent drop over last year's $612 million.

ELECTRONICS AND COMPONENTS ACCOUNT FOR 24.0 PERCENT OF IMPORT BILL

Accounting for 24.0 percent of the total aggregate import bill, payments for Electronics and Components amounted to $528.81 million or 41.6 percent higher than last year's $373.58 million. Compared to the previous month, dollar-outflow increased by 42.1 percent from $372.08 million.

Purchases of Office and EDP Machines ranked second with a 9.2 percent share. Payments made reached $202.99 million for a 19.9 percent increase over last year�s $169.32 million.

Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials, the third top import reported purchases worth $184.87 million, or a 35.0 percent decrease from $284.58 million a year earlier.

Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery accounting for 8.3 percent of the total bill, ranked fourth as payments reached $183.69 million, lower by 26.8 percent from last year's $251.05 million.

Expenditures for Transport Equipment, garnering a 4.8 percent share of the aggregate bill, increased by 27.9 percent to $106.16 million from $82.98 million.

Materials/Accessories Imported on Consignment Basis for the Manufacture of Other Electrical and Electronic Machinery and Equipment accounting for 4.6 percent of the total bill, was RP�s sixth top import for the month with payments worth $100.59 million or 28.8 percent higher than last year's $78.07 million.

Rounding up the list of the top imports for February 2002 were: Industrial Machinery and Equipment, $89.37 million; Cereals and Cereal Preparations, $72.57 million; Iron and Steel, $62.01 million; Textile Yarn, Fabrics, Made-up Articles and Related Products, $60.04 million.

Aggregate payment for the country's top ten imports for February 2002 amounted to $1.591 billion or 72.1 percent of the total bill.

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

RAW MATERIALS &INTERMEDIATE GOODS ACCOUNT FOR 41.7 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 went up by 16.7 percent to $921.36 million from $789.32 million.

Capital Goods accounting for 39.4 percent of the aggregate bill went up by 0.2 percent year-on-year to $869.31 million from $868.01 million. The group was led by Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery valued at $456.42 million or a 20.7 percent share of the total.

Purchases of Mineral Fuel & Lubricant valued at $184.87 million, registered a 35.0 percent decrease from $284.58 million.

Expenditures for Consumer Goods declined by 9.2 percent to $169.50 million from $186.62 million, while Special Transactions went down by 4.4 percent to $61.82 million from $64.70 million.

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

US CORNERS 21.8 PERCENT OF FEBRUARY IMPORT BILL

Purchases of American made goods, accounting for 21.8 percent of the total import bill, increased by 22.4 percent to $479.90 million from $392.23 million a year earlier. Exports to US, on the other hand amounted to $657.39 million yielding a two-way trade figure of $1.137 billion and a trade surplus for RP placed at $177.49 million.

Japan, the country's second biggest source of imports with a 21.0 percent share, reported shipments valued at $462.72 million against exports amounting to $427.28 million. Total trade reached $890.0 million while trade deficit for the Philippines stood at $35.43 million.

Republic of Korea followed as RP's third biggest source of imports. With payments worth $169.28 million, imports from Korea went up by 17.4 percent from $144.23 million while revenue from RP�s exports reached $117.90 million resulting to a total trade value of $287.18 million and a $51.38 million deficit for RP.

Other major sources of imports for the month were: ; Singapore, $153.56 million; Taiwan, $105.87 million; Hongkong, $96.78 million; Thailand, $79.92 million; Malaysia, $76.53 million; Indonesia, $65.52 million; and People's Republic of China, $65.06 million.

Payment for imports from the top ten sources for the month amounted to $1.755 billion or 79.5 percent of the total.

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

UNCOLLECTED DOCUMENTS

As of press time 83 out of 55,659 export documents and 106 out of 51,386 import documents are still expected from the ports.

Source: National Statistics Office
              Manila, Philippines