Philippine imports rose in May despite the drop in volume of electronic products, the country’s biggest import item.
Latest data from the National Statistics Office showed that May imports rose 10.1% to $5.386 billion from $4.893 billion. Compared to April’s $4.773 billion, the latest figure is higher by 12.8%.
From January to May, imports reached $25.660 billion, down 1.9% from $26.150 billion in the comparable period.
Accounting for the bulk or 26.7% of the aggregate import bill, payments for electronic products dropped 15.3% to $1.440 billion from $1.7 billion.
The country’s next biggest import were mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials representing 24% of the aggregate. The May bill for this commodity grouping saw the highest annual growth of 88.1% among all imports, from $685.91 million to $1.290 billion.
Transport equipment was the country’s third top import for May accounting for 6.8% of the total at $367.73 million. This figure was up 68.8% from the previous year’s $217.79 million.
With a 12.1% share, the US was the biggest source of imports. Payments amounted to $652.26 million, a dip of 1.1% from $659.83 million in May 2011.
China was the second top source of imports with an import bill of $597.07 million or 11.1% of the aggregate, higher by 14.9% from $519.52 million in May 2011.
In third place was South Korea which accounted for 10.5% of the total, representing growth of 58.8% to $565.96 million from $356.31 million.
