JANUARY TO JUNE TOTAL TRADE STANDS AT $31.243 BILLION

Total external trade in goods for January to June 2001 amounted to $31.243 billion or 5.2 percent lower than $32.952 billion in the first semester of 2000. Bills for foreign-made merchandise decreased by 0.5 percent to $15.255 billion in the same six-month period in 2001 from $15.336 billion a year ago. Similarly, exports posted a 9.2 percent year-on-year decline with an aggregate dollar revenue of $15.988 billion, down from $17.616 billion in 2000. Balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) surplus for the Philippines amounted to $733.0 million in the six-month period or 67.8 percent lower than $2.280 billion in January to June last year.

JUNE IMPORTS INCREASE BY 4.6 PERCENT

Total merchandise trade for the month of June 2001 declined by 12.2 percent to $5.187 billion from $5.905 billion in the same month last year. Dollar-inflow generated by exports amounted to $2.578 billion, or a 24.4 percent decrease from $3.410 billion last year, while expenditures for imported goods increased by 4.6 percent to $2.609 billion from $2.495 billion. The BOT-G deficit stood at $31 million in June.

ELECTRONICS COMPONENTS ACCOUNT FOR 20.6 PERCENT OF IMPORT BILL

Accounting for 20.6 percent of the aggregate import bill, June payments for Electronics Components amounted to $537.05 million or 4.8 percent higher than $512.52 million last year. Compared to the previous month, dollar-outflow went down by 4.9 percent from $564.77 million.

Purchases of Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery ranked second with a 11.2 percent share. Payments made reached $292.45 million for a 16.3 percent increment over $251.54 million last year.

Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials, the third top import reported purchases worth $276.36 million, or a 9.6 percent decrease from $305.84 million a year ago.

Office and EDP Machines accounting for 9.0 percent of the total bill, ranked fourth as payments reached $235.23 million, up by 95.3 percent from $120.46 million last year.

Payments for Industrial Machinery and Equipment with a 4.5 percent share of the aggregate bill fell by 13.2 percent to $117.41 million from $135.21 million.

Textile Yarn, Fabrics, Made-up Articles and Related Productsaccounting for 3.7 percent of the total bill, was the sixth top import for the month with payments worth $95.86 million or 8.0 percent lower than last years $104.22 million .

Rounding up the list of the top 10 imports for June 2001 wereTransport and Equipment, $85.34 million; Materials/Accessories Imported on Consignment Basis for the Manufacture of Other Electrical and Electronic Machinery and Equipment, $82.59 million; Iron and Steel, $71.65 million; and Cereals and Cereal Preparations, $70.55 million.

Aggregate payment for the top ten imports for June 2001 amounted to $1.864 billion or 71.5 percent of the total bill.

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

CAPITAL GOODS ACCOUNT FOR 41.6 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL IMPORT BILL

Capital Goods accounting for 41.6 percent of the aggregate bill rose by 11.3 percent year-on-year to $1.084 billion from $974.43 million. The group was led by Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery valued at $596.44 million or a 22.9 percent share of the total.

Payments for Raw Materials and Intermediate Goods consisting of unprocessed raw materials and semi-processed raw materials accounted for 37.2 percent of the aggregate bill as importation stepped-up by 0.31 percent to $969.96 million from $967.01 million.

Purchases of Mineral Fuel & Lubricant valued at $276.36 million registered a 9.6 percent decrease from $305.84 million.

Expenditures for Consumer Goods decreased by 1.0 percent to $191.81 million from $193.70 million, while Special Transactions rose by 61.3 percent to $86.93 million from $53.89 million.

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

JAPAN LEADS TOP SUPPLIERS WITH 20.5 PERCENT

Purchases of Japanese made goods, accounting for 20.5 percent of the total import bill, increased by 1.8 percent to $534.69 million from $524.85 million a year ago. Exports to Japan, on the other hand amounted to $431.41 million yielding a two-way trade figure of $966.10 million and a trade deficit placed at $103.29 million.

US, the second biggest source of imports with a 18.4 percent share, reported shipments valued at $479.08 million against purchases amounting to $768.23 million. Total trade reached $1.247 billion while trade surplus for the Philippines stood at $289.15 million.

Singapore followed as the third biggest source of imports. With payments worth $166.10 million, imports from the Singaporeincreased by 5.5 percent from $157.37 million while revenue from exports reached $180.89 million resulting to a total trade value of $346.99 million and a $14.79 million surplus.

Other major sources of imports for the month were Republic of Korea, $149.00 million; Taiwan, $130.02 million; Hongkong, $106.08 million; Thailand, $98.06 million; Malaysia, $92.05 million; Saudi Arabia, $78.72 million; and Indonesia, $72.92 million.

Payment for imports from the top ten sources for the month amounted to $1.907 billion or 73.1 percent of the total.

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

UNCOLLECTED DOCUMENTS

As of press time 90 out of 55,819 export documents and 116 out of54,791 import documents are still expected from the ports.

Source: National Statistics Office
            Manila, Philippines