Imports up 0.3% in Feb

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s merchandise imports growth eased in February even as eight out of 10 major commodity groups posted gains compared to the same month a year ago, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

The PSA said yesterday the country’s total imported goods amounted to $4.721 billion in February, a 0.3 percent increment from the $4.707 billion registered in the same month last year.

The year-on-year growth posted in February is the lowest growth rate posted by the country’s merchandise imports since the 0.5 percent uptick in November.

The country’s top imported commodity, electronics, contributed to the year-on-year increase in February.

Payments for imports of electronic products went up 2.2 percent to $1.281 billion in February compared to $1.253 billion paid in the same month in 2013.

Other commodity groups that supported the growth in imports in February were transport equipment; iron and steel; feeding stuff for animals (not including unmilled cereals); plastics in primary and non-primary forms; other food and live animals; cereals and cereal preparations;  and telecommunication equipment and electrical machinery.

The PSA said China remained the country’s biggest source of imports with a 12.1 percent share.

Payments for imports from China reached $571.03 million, an increase of 5.3 percent from $542.44 million in February 2013.

The second biggest source of imports for the month was the US with its 10.3 percent share valued at $487.25 million, followed by Japan which had a 9.9 percent share amounting to $465.17 million.

While imports posted a slight increase year-on-year in February, it declined by 20.7 percent compared to January’s $5.955 billion.

For the January to February period, the country’s imports rose 13.15 percent to  $10.675 billion compared to $9.435 billion in the same period a year ago.

The PSA also said the balance of trade in goods for the Philippines in February 2014 registered a deficit of $66 million from the $967 million deficit in the same month last year.