STRONG demand for electronics kicked up Philippine imports in July to $4.678 billion, 16.2% more than the $4.026 billion posted in the same month last year, according to latest data from the National Statistics Office.
On a month-on-month basis, imports grew 11% from $4.213 billion in June.
From January to July, total imports posted a 26.7% annual increase to $30.911 billion from $24.405 billion.
Accounting for 34.9% of the July aggregate import bill, payments for electronic products amounted to $1.634 billion, up 2.4% over last year’s $1.595 billion.
Imports of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials represented 15.4% of the total or $718.98 million, higher by 17.8% from $610.11 million of the previous year.
Shipments of transport equipment reached $260.86 million, up 27.7% from last year’s $204.23 million.
Japan was the country’s biggest source of imports for July with a 13% share totaling $607.56 million. This is an 11.6% improvement over the same month last year’s $544.27 million.
The US came next with payments worth $471.41 million representing 10.1% of the total. The July figure is down 0.1% from $471.64 million recorded in July 2009.
Accounting for 8.2% of the total, imports from China rose 8.6% to $383.73 million from $353.37 million.
