From the News! – Your Daily News

Reuters
Inquierer.net

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) Philippine imports rose 2.5 percent in September despite a fall in purchases of electronics parts, which reflects the sharp slowdown in the country’s biggest export item.

Electronics purchases, which make up over one-third of all imports, fell 26.1 percent year-on-year in September while cereal and cereal preparations imports surged 241.5 percent.

Electronics imports mainly comprise parts used as inputs for semiconductor exports and the sector is feeling the effects of a slowdown in US demand that is contributing to a rising trade deficit.

The Philippines had a trade deficit of $425 million in September and a deficit of $6.419 billion in the first nine months of the year. The nine-month trade deficit is the highest in three years.

Rica D. Delfinado
Philippine Star

The country’s import payments rose by 11.3 percent to $4.783 billion in May as high fuel and rice purchases overshadowed a 14.4 percent annual drop in electronics imports, which signals weaker export growth ahead.

Shipments of electronics parts dominate imports and are used as inputs for the country’s key semiconductor export.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) said the increase in the price of imported oil and food helped sharply drive up the trade deficit.

For the first five months of the year, imports surged by 16.6 percent to $24.245 billion from P20.80 billion a year ago.

The increase brought the trade deficit in the first five months to $3.16 billion, a sharp increase from $347 million over the same period last year.

Electronics purchases from abroad hit $1.51 billion in May, a 14.4 percent drop from the same period last year.

Those imported components are used as inputs in the country’s electronics exports, and a fall often signals a drop in overseas demand for local electronics products which make up more than half of Philippine exports.

The NSO noted that importation of all “raw materials and intermediate goods,” which are widely used in manufacturing exported products, fell 6.4 percent in May to $1.71 billion.

The import of cereals jumped 156.7 percent to $294.78 million, the NSO said. The Philippines is one of the world’s largest rice importers.

Rounding up the list of the top 10 imports for May 2008 were organic and inorganic chemicals, $107.05 million; plastics in primary and non-primary forms with $92.44 million worth of imports; telecommunication equipment and electrical machinery, $71.82 million; and textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products, $69.57 million.

Aggregate payment for the country’s top ten imports for May 2008 reached $3.889 billion or 81.3 percent of the total import bill.

The US was the country’s biggest source of imports for May with shipments worth $547.21 million.

Japan followed with shipments worth $519.30 million followed by Saudi Arabia with $496.99 million.

Other major sources of imports were Singapore, $481 million; China, $345 million; Taiwan, $293 million; and Thailand, $274 million.

Michelle Remo, Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Philippine imports surged 11.8 percent to $4.86 billion in April from a year earlier, fueled largely by the soaring world prices of oil and rice.

The Philippines imports nearly all of its fuel requirements and has recently emerged as well as the world’s top importer of rice.

The April figure brought the country’s total imports from January to April to $19.46 billion, up 17.9 percent year-on-year.

With exports in the first four months coming in at $16.86 billion, the country posted a trade deficit of $2.6 billion, widening by 225 percent from only $800 million in January-April last year.

The rise in imports in April was despite the 10.7-percent slump in electronics imports to $1.59 billion, which was attributed to expectations by exporters that global demand for consumer electronics would weaken this year.

“The rise in imports did not mean that the economy was recovering nor demand by businesses for capital goods was increasing. The growth in imports was mostly accounted for by consumer goods, especially rice and oil,” said Victor Abola, economist from the University of Asia and the Pacific.

Abola said that of the nearly $500-million increase in imports in April from a year earlier, $295 million was accounted for by rice and oil. The rising prices of oil and rice in the world market forced the economy to spend more for these imports, he explained.

He projected the country’s trade deficit to hit anywhere between $9 billion and $10 billion by the end of the year.

According to the National Statistics Office’s report on the country’s external trade performance, mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials were the country’s second biggest imports for April at $1.04 billion. Imports for these commodities grew 13.7 percent from $912 million in April last year.

Other top imports for the month were transport equipment ($304 million), cereals and cereal preparation ($239.95 million), industrial machinery and equipment ($203.4 million), iron and steel ($136.42 million), chemicals ($94.29 million), fertilizers ($91.29 million), plastics ($90.29 million) and textile and related materials ($78.22 million).

Singapore was the biggest source of imports for April, accounting for $702.99 million. The United States fell to second with $568 million.

Other top sources of imports for April were Japan ($552.44 million), Saudi Arabia ($424.24 million), China ($350.08 million), Taiwan ($297.61 million), South Korea ($222 million), Thailand ($199.24 million), Malaysia ($173.25 million) and Hong Kong ($172.92 million).

The central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), expects the Philippines’ trade deficit to surge 33 percent to $11 billion this year as global prices of oil and rice bloat the import bill at a time that export earnings are slowing down.

The BSP’s policymaking Monetary Board estimated in a recent mid-year assessment that the full-year trade gap, equivalent to 6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), would widen from the $8.24-billion deficit in 2007 and the $9.31-billion shortfall earlier forecast in May.

This, in turn, is seen to pare down the country’s current account surplus to $4.2 billion from $6.9 billion as earlier projected.

In the BSP’s assessment, the Philippines will earn $52.3 billion from exports this year, up a modest five percent from 2007, given a US-led global slowdown. This suggests a 29-percent contribution by the export sector to domestic output this year.

The BSP expects the import bill to grow 10 percent—twice as fast as export earnings—to $63.3 billion because of surging fuel and food prices.

With editing by INQUIRER.net

Reuters Xinhua Financial News Service
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — Imports fell 1.3 percent year-on-year in December to $4.157 billion, leaving the country with a trade deficit of $467 million for the month, the government said Tuesday.

For the whole of 2006, the Philippines registered a trade deficit of $4.485 billion, compared with $6.163 billion in 2005. In December, the deficit was $467 million.

In November, imports were up 13.4 percent from a year earlier.

December…