PH Posts Growth in Imports

Manila—(PHStocks)—Philippine Statistics Office—The country’s total imported goods for February 2014 amounted to $4.721 billion, slightly increasing by 0.3 percent from $4.707 billion recorded during the same period a year ago.

The increase in total imports was due to the positive performance of eight out of the top ten major commodities for the month.  These are: transport equipment; iron and steel; feeding stuff for animals (not including unmilled cereals); plastics in primary and non-primary forms; other food & live animals; cereals and cereal preparations; telecommunication equipment and electrical machinery; and electronic products. However, on a monthly basis, payments for merchandise imports decreased by 20.7 percent from $5.955 billion posted in January 2014.

The balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) for the Philippines in February 2014 registered a deficit of $66 million from $967 million deficit in the same period last year.  In terms of total volume of inward shipments (expressed in gross kilos), total imported goods decreased compared to the same month a year ago.

IMPORTS OF ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS INCREASE BY 2.2 PERCENT

Electronic Products remained as the country’s top imported goods with total payment worth $1.281 billion, accounting for 27.1 percent of the total imports payments in February 2014.  It increased by 2.2 percent from $1.253 billion registered in February 2013.  However, on a month-on-month basis, Electronic Products went down by 0.7 percent from $1.290 billion posted in January 2014.  Among the major electronic products, Components/Devices (Semiconductors), comprising 22.3 percent of the total imports, had the largest share with import bill worth $1.051 billion, increasing by 10.3 percent from $952.40 million recorded in February 2013.  The volume of inward shipments of electronic products decreased compared to the same period a year ago.

Imports of Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials ranked second with 17.4 percent share and reported import payment valued at $820.00 million.  It decreased by 32.2 percent from $1.209 billion in February 2013. Likewise, in terms of volume, it declined compared with February 2013.

Transport Equipment was recorded as the country’s third top imports with payment valued at $487.51 million or 10.3 percent share to total imports, registering the highest year-on-year increase of 56.5 percent among the top ten goods.  Similarly, its volume of inward shipments increased over a year ago.

Industrial Machinery and Equipment ranked fourth, contributing 4.8 percent share to total import bill amounting to $225.39 million.  It decreased by 5.7 percent compared to last year’s value of $239.04 million. Likewise, on a monthly comparison, it showed a 14.6 percent negative growth.

Other Food and Live Animals, with 3.0 percent share to the total import bill, ranked fifth with value posted at $141.48 million. It increased by 10.5 percent from a value of $128.06 million during the same month in 2013.

Rounding up the list of the top ten imports with increasing growth rates for the month of February 2014 were Feeding Stuff for Animals with import payments of $138.20 million, by 33.4 percent; Iron and Steel with import bill of $134.77 million, a growth of 43.2 percent; Plastics in Primary and Non-Primary Forms with $127.35 million, by 24.7 percent;Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery with import bill worth $100.36 million, by 4.0 percent; andCereals and Cereal Preparations with $96.0 million, by 6.4 percent.

Aggregate payment from the top ten imports reached $3.552 billion, or 75.2 percent of the total imports.

RAW MATERIALS AND INTERMEDIATE GOODS ACCOUNT FOR 46.0 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL IMPORTS

Payments for purchases of Raw Materials and Intermediate Goods in February 2014 accounted for 46.0 percent of the total imports valued at $2.173 billion.  It increased by 29.0 percent over last year’s figure of $1.685 billion.  On a monthly comparison, purchases went down by 8.3 percent from $2.370 billion.  Semi-Processed Raw Materials had the biggest share of 42.7 percent valued at $2.015 billion.  The volume of shipments for this type of goods also increased compared to shipments a year ago.

Total bill for inward shipments of Capital Goods accounting for 22.5 percent of the total imports, declined by 10.3 percent from $1.184 billion in February 2013 to $1.062 billion in February 2014.  On the other hand, its volume of shipment increased compared to the same month a year ago.

Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials with 17.4 percent share to total imports decreased by 32.2 percent from $1.209 billion in February 2013 to $820.00 million in February 2014.  Other mineral fuel and lubricants such as gas oils, motor spirit (premium unleaded) and aviation spirit contributed the biggest share of imports in this commodity group.

Purchases of Consumer Goods recorded a 13.4 percent share with a total import bill valued at $632.19 million in February 2014.  It increased by 6.8 percent from $591.83 million registered in February 2013.

Special Transactions declined by 12.7 percent from $38.28 million to $33.40 million in February 2014.  However, volume of shipments of this product increased compared to the same period last year.

IMPORTS FROM PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ACCOUNT FOR 12.1 PERCENT

People’s Republic of China remained as the country’s biggest source of imports with 12.1 percent share.  Payments were recorded at $571.03 million, an increase of 5.3 percent from $542.44 million in February 2013.   Revenue from country’s exports to China, on the other hand, reached $682.83 million, generating a total trade value of $1.254 billion and $111.80 million balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) surplus.

United States of America (USA) including Alaska and Hawaii was second biggest source of imports for February 2014 with 10.3 percent share to the total import bill amounting to $487.25 million and decreasing by 11.0 percent from $547.43 million in February 2013.  Exports to USA amounted to $625.08 million, yielding a two-way trade value of $1.112 billion and a trade surplus of $137.83 million.

Japan ranked third, accounting for 9.9 percent share of the total import bill in February 2014 with a positive growth of 4.8 percent to $465.17 million from $443.99 million in February 2013. Exports to this country amounted to $1.181 billion resulting to a total trade value of $1.646 billion and a trade surplus of $715.37 million.

Fourth in rank was Republic of Korea accounting for 8.2 percent share of the total import bill in February 2014 or a decrease of 3.9 percent from $401.07 million to $385.51 million compared to same period last year. Exports to Korea amounted to $208.75 million resulting to a total trade value of $594.27 million and a trade deficit of $176.76 million.

Singapore came fifth, contributing a 7.3 percent of the total import bill in February 2014, with import value of $344.34 million. Meanwhile, export receipts from Singapore in February 2014 reached $311.06 million yielding a total trade value of $655.40 million and a trade deficit of $33.29 million.

Other major sources of imports for the month of February 2014 were: Taiwan, $312.07 million; Thailand, $275.44 million; Germany, $248.28 million; Indonesia, $234.45 million; and Malaysia, $222.30 million.

Aggregate payments for imports from the top ten sources for February 2014 amounted to $3.546 billion or 75.1 percent of the total.

IMPORTED GOODS FROM EAST ASIA ACCOUNT FOR 38.6 PERCENT

By economic bloc, East Asia (China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea and Taiwan) was the biggest source of the country’s imports in February 2014 as it accounted for 38.6 percent of the total imports valued at $1.824 billion.  It increased by 2.0 percent from $1.788 billion in February 2013.  Total exports to member-countries of East Asia amounted to $2.536 billion resulting to a total trade of $4.359 billion and a trade surplus of $711.93 million.

Merchandise imported from ASEAN member-countries were valued at $1.221 billion, contributing 25.9 percent share and increasing by 8.7 percent from $1.123 billion recorded in February 2013.  Proceeds from exports to ASEAN member-countries were worth $674.54 million, resulting to a total trade of $1.895 billion and a trade deficit of $546.11 million.

Imports from European Union were priced at $621.42 million.  It increased by 82.3 percent compared to a year ago value of $340.89 million.  Exports to member-countries of European Union were worth $546.88 million, resulting to a total trade of $1.168 billion and a trade deficit of $74.55 million.