Philippine imports in September up by 3.6%

According to the Philippine National Statistics Office (NSO), imports in September increased by 3.6% year-on-year to US$5.27 billion. The increase was due to higher purchases of fuel, cereal, and industrial machinery. Aggregate imports for January to September went up by 0.5% year-on-year to US$46.04 billion.
The NSO said imports of mineral fuels and lubricants, which account for 24.2% of total imports, reached US$1.27 billion in September, 44.2 % higher than last year. Industrial machinery and equipment imports went up by 0.4% to US$256.69 million. Cereal imports were higher by 36.6% amounting to US$164.8 million. However, electronics, which account for 25.8% of total imports, declined by 5.8% to US$1.44 billion.
Most of the country’s imports are from China, Taiwan, U.S.A., Japan and South Korea.
The Philippine trade deficit in September was US$483 million, down from US$1.19 billion a year ago. (November 27, 2012)