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Merchandise imports in March fell 8.4% to $4.922 billion, the biggest drop in since April 2012
MANILA, Philippines – Merchandise imports in March fell 8.4%, the biggest drop in 11 months, data released by the National Statistics Office showed.
Lower imports of fuel, chemicals, and electronics pulled down the total March imports, which reached US$4.922 billion from $5.371 billion a year ago
This brought the first quarter total to $14.4 billion, down 7.4% from $15.509 billion.
The downward trend are attributed to 5 of the 10 major commodity groups with negative year-on-year changes:
- Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials down 32.6% to $1 billion
- organic and inorganic chemicals, down 30.7% to $100 million
- plastics in primary and non-primary forms, down 13.5% to $121 million
- industrial machinery and equipment, down 1.5% to $249 million
- electronic products, down 0.6% to $1.246 billion
The top import sources are as follows:
- China, 11.5% of total
- USA, 11.1%
- Taiwan, 10%
- Japan, 9.6%
- South Korea, 8.5%
- Singapore, 6.6%
- Thailand, 5.4%
- Indonesia, 4.4%
- Malaysia, 4.3%
- Germany, 3%
– Rappler.com
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