Philippine imports dropped in April due to the slow performance of the semiconductor and electronics sector.
Latest data from the National Statistics Office showed the country’s total merchandise imports slipped 13.7% from $5.525 billion to $4.770 billion. Month-on-month, it decreased 11.2% from $5.371 billion in March.
As a result, aggregate imports from January to April went down 4.6% from $21.257 billion to $20.271 billion in the same period last year.
Accounting for 27.6% of the aggregate import bill, payments for electronic products tumbled 22.1% to $1.317 billion from $1.690 billion.
Import bill payments for mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, which represented 22.1% of the total, went down 24.3% from $1.393 billion to $1.055 billion.
Valued at $256.47 million in April, imports of industrial machinery and equipment accounted for 5.4% of the aggregate. The figure is up 9.3% from $234.65 million posted in April 2011.
The US was the country’s biggest source of imports for April, representing 11.9% of the total. Payments were recorded at $567.84 million, a decrease of 6.8% from $609.43 million in April 2011.
Japan was the second top source of imports with an 11.3% share to the total amounting to $539.85 million, higher by 22.5% from $440.58 million in April 2011.
China came third, accounting for 9.9% of the aggregate with a negative growth of 8.9% from $517.19 million to $471.08 million.
