JANUARY TO DECEMBER TOTAL TRADE STANDS AT $61.701 BILLION

Total external trade in goods for January to December 2001 amounted to $61.701 billion or 11.2 percent lower than $69.465 billion in 2000. Bill for foreign-made merchandise declined by 5.9 percent to $29.550 billion from $31.387 billion. On the other hand, exports posted a 15.6 percent year-on-year decrease reporting an aggregate dollar revenue of $32.150 billion down from $38.078 billion a year earlier. Balance of trade surplus for the Philippines amounted to $2.600 billion or 61.1 percent lower than last years $6.691 billion.

Fig. 1A.Philippine Trade Performance in January  December : 2000 & 2001
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)

Fig. 1B. Philippine Trade Performance in December : 2000 & 2001
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)

DECEMBER IMPORTS DECLINED BY 4.2 PERCENT

Total merchandise trade for December 2001, declined by 16.5 percent to $4.788 billion from $5.733 billion during the same period last year. Dollar-inflow generated by exports amounted to $2.645 billion, or a 24.3 percent decrease from last years $3.496 billion, while expenditures for imported goods decreased by 4.2 percent to $2.143 billion from $2.237 billion. The BOT-G surplus stood at $503 million.

ELECTRONICS AND COMPONENTS ACCOUNT FOR 18.5 PERCENT OF IMPORT BILL

Accounting for 18.5 percent of the total aggregate import bill, payments for Electronics and Components amounted to $397.17 million or 7.1 percent lower than last year's $427.32 million. Compared to the previous month, dollar-outflow increased by 18.8 percent from $334.23 million.

Purchases of Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery ranked second with a 10.0 percent share. Payments made reached $213.23 million for a 15.4 percent slowdown over last years $251.90 million.

Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials, the third top import reported purchases worth $210.85 million, or a 12.6 percent decrease from $241.14 million a year earlier.

Office and EDP Machines accounting for 9.1 percent of the total bill, ranked fourth as payments reached $195.35 million, higher by 39.4 percent from last year's $140.15 million.

Expenditures for Transport Equipment, combined for a 5.4 percent share of the aggregate bill, which increased by 72.3 percent to $116.13 million from $67.42 million.

Industrial Machinery and Equipment accounting for 5.3 percent of the total bill, was RPs sixth top import for the month with payments worth $112.91 million or 20.9 percent lower than last years $142.66 million.

Rounding up the list of the top imports for December 2001 were:Materials/Accessories Imported on Consignment Basis for the Manufacture of Other Electrical and Electronic Machinery and Equipment, $98.33 million; Textile Yarn, Fabrics, Made-up Articles and Related Products, $68.17 million; Plastics in Primary and Non-Primary Forms, $41.97 million; Iron and Steel, $39.59 million.

Aggregate payment for the countrys top ten imports for December 2001 amounted to $1.494 billion or 69.7 percent of the total bill.

Fig. 2. Philippine Top Imports in December: 2000 & 2001
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)

CAPITAL GOODS ACCOUNT FOR 42.0 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL IMPORT BILL

Capital Goods accounting for 42.0 percent of the aggregate bill declined by 1.8 percent year-on-year growth to $900.24 million from $916.41 million. The group was led by Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery valued at $460.33 million or a 21.5 percent share of the total.

Payments for Raw Materials and Intermediate Goods consisting of unprocessed raw materials and semi-processed raw materials accounted for 37.0 percent of the aggregate bill even as importation went down by 5.2 percent to $792.48 million from $835.53 million.

Purchases of Mineral Fuel & Lubricant valued at $210.85 million, registered a 12.6 percent decrease from $241.14 million.

Expenditures for Consumer Goods declined by 0.1 percent to $191.56 million from $191.30 million, while Special Transactions went down by 10.0 percent to $47.40 million from $52.64 million.

Fig. 3. Philippine Imports by Major Type of Goods in December : 2000 & 2001
(F.O.B. Value in Million US Dollar)

JAPAN CORNERS 22.0 PERCENT OF DECEMBER IMPORT BILL

Purchases of Japanese made goods, accounting for 22.0 percent of the total import bill, decreased by 0.8 percent to $471.81 million from $475.75 million a year earlier. Exports to Japan, on the other hand amounted to $377.42 million yielding a two-way trade figure of $849.23 million and a trade deficit for RP placed at $94.39 million.

US, the countrys second biggest source of imports with a 18.3 percent share, reported shipments valued at $392.87 million against exports amounting to $702.52 million. Total trade reached $1.095 billion while trade surplus for the Philippines stood at $309.66 million.

Republic of Korea followed as RPs third biggest source of imports. With payments worth $147.55 million, imports from Korea went down by 9.0 percent from $162.21 million while revenue from RPs exports reached $117.53 million resulting to a total trade value of $265.08 million and a $30.03 million deficit for RP.

Other major sources of imports for the month were: ; Singapore, $132.99 million; Hongkong, $101.12 million; Malaysia, $89.46 million;People's Republic of China, $81.27 million; Taiwan, $79.38 million;Indonesia, $73.24 million; and Thailand, $58.62 million.

Payment for imports from the top ten sources for the month amounted to $1.628 billion or 76.0 percent of the total.

Fig. 4. Philippine Imports by Country in December: 2001

UNCOLLECTED DOCUMENTS

As of press time 27 out of 54,601 export documents and 48 out of52,577 import documents are still expected from the ports.

Source: National Statistics Office
            Manila, Philippines