Domestic trade up 20.8% in Jan-Sept

MANILA, Philippines - Commodities traded within the country grew by more than a fifth in terms of value in the third quarter from a year ago, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.

According to the preliminary results of the statistics agency’s Commodity Flow in the Philippines report, the total value of domestic trade rose to P130.90 billion in the July to September period, up 20.8 percent from the P108.38 billion in the comparable period last year.

“Trade transaction through water was the major mode of transport comprising 99.3 percent and 99.6 percent in the third quarter of 2011 and 2012 respectively,” the NSO said.

It noted that food and live animals had the largest share among commodities traded within the country, amounting to P39.16 billion or 29.9 percent.

Machinery and transport equipment had the second biggest share at 16 percent, valued at P20.93 billion.

Manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials came in third with a 15.4-percent share worth P20.16 billion.

In terms of volume, domestic trade transactions increased  32.9 percent to 5.71 million tons in the third quarter from last year’s 4.30 million tons, with 99.8 percent traded mostly through water.

Domestic trade refers to the flow of commodities through the water, air and rail transport systems within the country.

Domestic trade data is used as basis in the formulation and implementation of programs like countryside development and port planning.

The NSO said most of the traded commodities in the third quarter came from the National Capital Region (NCR) with the transactions valued at P34.51 billion or 26.4 percent of the total.