June imports down

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s merchandise imports continued to decline in June due to the weak performance of electronic products and five other commodity groups.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) said yesterday imports went down 4.8 percent to $4.860 billion in June from the $5.103 billion recorded in the same month last year.

The statistics agency reported earlier that imports declined by 2.4 percent year-on-year to $5.258 billion in May.

Compared to the previous month’s level of $5.258 billion, imports in June also decreased by 7.6 percent.

“The negative growth was brought about by six out of 10 major commodity groups whose year-on-year change was negative,” the NSO said.

Payments for electronic products which was the top imported commodity in June, fell 24.8 percent to $1.096 billion from the previous year’s $1.459 billion.

Transport equipment imports also dropped 33.7 percent to $423.96 million in June compared to the $639.50 million a year ago.

Other commodity groups which registered year-on-year declines were cereals and cereal preparations; telecommunication equipment and electrical machinery; iron and steel; and plastics in primary and

non-primary rooms.

The NSO said China remained the country’s biggest source of imports for June, accounting for a 14.1 percent share of the total import bill.

Imports from China were valued at $685.16 million in June, 25.8 percent higher than the $544.85 million wants of imports last year.

“The increase was attributed to the purchases of telecommunication

equipment and electrical machinery and other mineral fuels and lubricants,” the NSO said.

For the first semester, aggregate imports amounted to $29.615 billion, which slid by 3.8 percent from the $30.786 billion in the comparable period last year.

The NSO also reported that total external trade in goods for June dipped 0.7 percent to $9.350 billion in June from the $9.417 billion recorded during the same month in 2012.

The decline was due to the downward trend of total imports in June.

Merchandise exports, however, rose 4.1 percent to $4.490 billion in June from last year’s $4.314 billion.

Based on the latest imports and exports results, the balance of trade

in goods registered a deficit of $370 million in June from the $789

million deficit in the same period last year.