MikeLigalig.com

By Ernesto V. Afable

The Aquino government has posted a US$9.691 billion total external trade in goods, or a 2.4 percent increase in July 2012, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported on Wednesday.

NSO administrator Carmelita N. Ericta reported that the increase can be attributed to the 6.0 percent growth of exports to US$ 4.727 billion from US$ 4.460 billion in the same month a year ago.

However, the NSO chief said, the total merchandise imports (TMI) for July 2012 marginally declined by 0.8 percent from US$ 5.001 billion to US$ 4.964 billion, thus, the balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) for the Philippines in July 2012 registered a deficit of US$ 236 million from US$ 541 million deficit in the same period last year.

Similarly, the TMI decreased by 2.5 percent compared to previous month’s level to US$ 5.089 billion. On the other hand, aggregate imports slightly went up by 0.2 percent to US$ 35.712 billion value in the first seven months of 2012 from US$ 35.655 billion for the same period in 2011.

Top 10 PH imports

Electronic Products: Payments for electronic products account for 24.6 percent of the aggregate import bill.

These imports (including consigned and direct importation using the expanded coverage of electronic products) increased by 4.8 percent to reported value of US$ 1.223 billion from US$ 1.167 billion in July 2011. Among the major groups of electronic products, components/devices (semiconductors) have the biggest share of 18.2 percent increased by 6.6 percent to US$ 902.66 million from US$ 846.49 million. However, compared to previous month, electronic products as well as the semiconductors went down by 16.2 percent and 20.7 percent from US$ 1.458 billion and US$ 1.139 billion recorded in June 2012 respectively.

Mineral fuels and related materials: Import bill payments for mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials ranked second among the top ten imports with 23.2 percent share to total imports. The annual growth rate went down by 12.3 percent from US$ 1.313 billion to US$ 1.152 billion. The contraction in value may be attributed to the 1.9 percent decrease in volume of inward shipments.

Industrial Machinery and Equipment: This is PH’s third top import for the month with 6.0 percent share to total imports valued at US$ 297.64 million. It posted a positive year on year change of 28.2 percent among the top ten imports from US$ 232.25 million from previous year’s value.

The expansion was brought about by 54.5 percent increase in the volume of inward shipment.

Transport Equipment: It contributed about 5.9 percent to the total import bill was the fourth top import for the month amounting to US$ 293.61 million. Compared to last year’s amount of US$ 290.42 million, it grew by 1.1 percent. Similarly, volume purchases also went up by 56.5 percent from the same period last year.

Cereals and cereal preparations: Fifth in rank and with 4.2 percent share to the total imports was Cereals and Cereal Preparations, recorded US$ 207.37 million worth of imports from its year ago level of US$ 171.73 million. An annual positive growth of 20.8 percent was shown because of the 42.9 percent increase in volume of imports compared to July 2011.

Rounding up the list of the top ten imports for July 2012 were Organic and Inorganic Chemicals: US$ 139.86 million; Plastics in Primary and Non-Primary Forms: US$ 132.57 million; Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery: US$ 107.23 million; Iron and Steel: US$ 99.30 million; and Chemical Materials and Products: valued at US$ 81.54 million with the highest growth of 34.3 percent among the top ten imports for July 2012.

Aggregate payment for the country’s top ten imports for July 2012 reached US$ 3.733 billion or 75.2 percent of the total import bill.

So far, of the total imports in July 2012, 30 percent of it comprised raw materials and intermediate goods, but in year-on-year change going down by 2.7 percent from US$ 1.685 billion to US$ 1.639 billion. The contraction was brought about by the decline in the value of unprocessed raw materials, semi-processed raw materials and materials and accessories for the manufacturer of electrical equipment.

Capital Goods accounts for 28.9 percent of the total imports in the amount of US$ 1.436 billion or 10.6 percent increment over last year's figure of US$ 1.298 billion. Compared to the previous month’s level, purchases went down by 18.5 percent from US$ 1.762 billion. Increase in the import bill can be accounted for by 42.8 percent increase in volume of purchases of capital goods.

Some US$ 685.16 million or a positive growth of 7.7 percent from US$ 635.89 million was incurred in purchases of Consumer Goods in July 2011. The increase was brought about by the 20.8 percent increase in purchases of passenger car and motorized cycle.

Imports of commodities under Special Transactions valued at US$ 52.29 million dropped by 25.2 percent from US$ 69.93 million recorded in July 2011. Similarly, total volume of inward manifest registered a 34.5 percent drop compared to its volume of importation a year ago.

PH top sources of imports

Japan, including Okinawa, was the country’s biggest source of imports in July 2012 with 11.6 percent share. Payments were recorded at US$ 573.57 million, an increase of 19.1 percent from US$ 481.44 million in July 2011.

Revenue from PH’s exports to Japan, on the other hand, reached US$ 770.08 million, generating a total trade value of US$ 1.344 billion and US$ 196.51 million trade surplus for the Philippines.

The increase in the inward purchases from Japan was based on imported commodities like wafers and discs, electrically circuit-programmed, whether or not coated on one side with gold or aluminum.

The People’s Republic of China (PROC) was the second top source of imports with 10.9 percent share to the total import bill amounting to US$ 538.81 million, lower by 6.7 percent from US$ 577.79 million in July 2011. Exports to PROC amounted to US$ 501.34 million, yielding a two-way trade value of US$ 1.040 billion and a trade deficit for PH of US$ 37.47 million.

United States of America (USA) including Alaska and Hawaii came third, accounting for 10.1 percent share of the total import bill in July 2012 with positive growth of 8.7 percent from US$ 461.01 million to US$ 501.28 million. Exports to USA amounted to US$ 668.69 million resulting to a total trade value of US$ 1.170 billion and a trade surplus of US$ 167.41 million.

Republic of Korea (ROK) ranked fourth among the top sources of imports for the country accounting for 8.4 percent share of the total import bill in July 2012. It increased by 26.2 percent to US$ 419.30 million from US$ 332.25 million. On the other hand, exports to ROK amounted to US$ 191.49 million resulting to a total trade value of US$ 610.79 million and a trade deficit of US$ 227.81 million.

Fifth in rank was Singapore, representing 7.3 percent of the total import bill in July 2012 or a decrease of 0.2 percent from US$ 361.93 million to US$ 361.32 million in the same month last year. Exports to that country amounted to US$ 834.01 million resulting to a total trade value of US$ 1.195 billion and a trade surplus of US$ 472.69 million.Other major sources of imports for the month of July 2012 were Taiwan, US$ 317.08 million (electronic products and other petroleum products); Saudi Arabia, US$ 297.05 million (petroleum products); Thailand, US$ 285.56 million (other petroleum products, electronic products and motor vehicles); United Arab Emirates, US$ 253.03 million (petroleum products); and Indonesia US$ 198.86 million (other petroleum products and motor vehicles).

Payments for imports from the top ten sources for July 2012 amounted to US$ 3.746 billion or 75.5 percent of the total.

US$ 1.979-B imports from East Asia

The Philippines’ total imports in July 2012 from East Asia accounted for 39.9 percent of the county’s total imports with total payments of US$ 1.979 billion or a positive annual growth of 8.2 percent from July 2011 level of US$ 1.829 billion. So far, total exports to member-countries of East Asia were valued at US$ 1.982 billion, resulting to a total trade of US$ 3.961 billion and a balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) surplus of US$ 2.07 million.

Imports from ASEAN member-countries recorded at US$ 1.188 billion, contributed a 23.9 percent share to total imports. It grew by 4.3 percent compared to US$ 1.139 billion value in July 2011. On the other hand, exports to ASEAN member-countries worth US$ 1.298 billion resulted to a total trade of US$ 2.486 billion and a trade surplus of US$ 110.66 million.

The PH’s July 2012 imports from European Union (EU) were valued at US$ 315.14 million while exports to member-countries of EU were worth US$ 503.91 million. These aggregated to a total trade value of US$ 819.05 million and a trade surplus of US$ 188.77 million.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=55252.0