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MANILA - Philippine merchandise imports contracted at their fastest pace in more than two years last April, mostly because of a sharp drop in electronic products and fuel.
In a report, the National Statistics Office on Tuesday said imports fell for the second straight month last April, with the slide accelerating to 13.7 percent year-on-year.
That month’s contraction was the sharpest since the 16.8 percent in October 2009.
On a monthly basis, April’s $4.8 billion imports likewise fell 11.2 percent from the March figure of $5.3 billion.
The April figure caused merchandise imports to drop 4.6 percent to $20.271 billion in the first four months of this year from $21.257 billion in the comparable period last year.
Electronics, which at 27.6 percent was the Philippines’ top import, fell 22.1 percent to $1.317 billion in April from $1.690 billion in the same month last year.
Compared with last March, April electronics imports however increased 4.6 percent.
Imports of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, which comprised 22 percent of the total import bill, went down by 24.3 percent to $1.055 billion last April from $1.393 billion a year ago.
The US was the Philippines’ biggest market at $567.84 million, down by seven percent from $609.43 million a year ago.
Imports to Japan rose by 22.5 percent to $539.85 million from $440.58 million last year.
The People’s Republic of China was the Philippines’ third biggest source of imports with $471.08 million, also down from $517.19 million in 2011.
Other major sources of imports for April were Singapore, $420.06 million; Taiwan, $400.23 million; Republic of Korea, $391.99 million; Saudi Arabia $274.53 million; Indonesia, $233.76 million; Thailand, $230.19 million; and Malaysia $170.58 million.
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