Imports up 7.2% in Sept

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s imports continued to pick up in September, rising 7.2 percent compared to the same month a year ago due to the increase in purchases of electronic products and four other commodity groups from overseas for the holiday season.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) said yesterday the country’s total imported goods went up to $5.711 billion in September 2013 from $5.327 billion in the same month last year.

Compared to the previous month’s level of $5.546 billion, September imports climbed by three percent month on month.

National Economic and Development Authority director general Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement the higher imports value in September reflected the buoyant outlook of firms on the volume of business activities for the latter part of the year.

“This is in anticipation of the increase in demand during the holiday season,” he said.

The NSO said the increase in the value of imports in September from a year ago was brought by the rise in purchases of electronic products, the top imported commodity for the month with its 30.9 percent share.

Electronic imports were valued at $1.764 billion, up by 29.8 percent over last year’s figure of $1.359 billion.

“Increasing export orders received by the members of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI) may have boosted the import performance of the said commodity, in line with positive global expectations for the electronics industry in the second half of 2013,” Balisacan said.

Aside from electronic products, the positive performance of other commodity groups such as transport equipment; other food and live animals; iron and steel; and industrial machinery and equipment, contributed to the rise in imports in September.

The NSO noted that the United States of America (USA) including Alaska and Hawaii, was the biggest source of imports in September, as it accounted for 11.8 percent of the total import bill.

Imports from the USA, which were valued at $675.10 million, grew by 17 percent from the $576.82 million registered in September 2012.

For the January to September period, total imports amounted to $46.359 billion, up slightly from the $46.344 billion in the same nine months of last year.

The NSO also reported that total external trade in goods for September reached $10.756 billion, representing a 6.1 percent increase from the $10.137 billion recorded during the same month last year.

It attributed the increase to the growth posted by both total imports and exports.

Earnings from merchandise exports grew by five percent to $5.045 billion in September from the $4.811 billion in the same month last year.

Amid higher imports and exports, the balance of trade in goods for the country in September registered a deficit of $666 million from the $516 million deficit in the same period last year.