LONDON: Preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the country imported $6.53 billion worth of goods last October, 16.8% higher from the last year’s comparative month. This was the fifth consecutive month of growth since June and was faster than the upwardly revised 8.2% September print.
Year to date, inbound shipment of goods amounted to $56.53 billion, 3.9% higher from the $54.39 billion in the same 10 months of last year. With exports down by 6.2% to $48.87 billion in the first 10 months, the country posted a $7.66-billion balance of trade deficit in goods for the same period. The government has targeted a 1% growth in imports for this year.
PSA attributed the rise in imports in October to “positive performance” of six out of top 10 imported commodities, namely: electronic products; industrial machinery and equipment; telecommunication equipment and electrical machinery; iron and steel; cereals and cereal preparations; and transport equipment.
Electronic products, which accounted for 32.2% of the October import bill, surged by 70.7% to $2.10 billion from $1.23 billion last year.
Components or semiconductors, which had a 24.4% share among electronic products, grew by 85.4% to $1.59 billion in October from $858.66 million in the same month last year. By commodity type, payments for raw materials and intermediate goods, which accounted for 42.8% of the total imports, increased by 40.1% to $2.79 billion in October from $1.99 billion in the same month last year.
Capital goods, which made up 32.3%, rose by 25.4% to $2.11 billion from $1.68 billion. Consumer goods, which had a 16.3% share, grew by 4.1% to $1.06 billion from $1.02 billion.
However, mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, which had an 8.0% share, slumped by 38.5% to $524.81 million. China remained as the country’s biggest source of imports with 17.2%, followed by Japan (11.2%) and the United States of America (10.7%).
