TACLOBAN CITY – The region reflected a continued deficit in the total balance of trade in goods (BoT-G) to $40.16 million in November 2018 from $59.79 million in November 2017, which implies an improvement of 32.84 percent, a report from the regional office of the Philippine Statistics Authority(PSA) said.
Wilma Perante, PSA regional director, told Leyte Samar Daily Express in an interview, that the region’s total trade in goods in November 2018, which amounted to $109.04 million, was significantly lower by 64.41 percent compared with the $306.37 million in the same period last year.
“Total value of exports amounted to $34.44 million, which was 72.07 percent lower compared with the $123.29 million in November 2017. Total value of imports, meanwhile, was recorded at $74.60 million, 59.25 percent lower compared with the $183.08 million imports posted in the same period last year,” Perante said.
Perante reported that the region’s total volume of exports in November 2018 was posted at 67.05 million kilograms.
“The commodity group of ores, slag and ash was the major export during the month in review with total revenue of $33.05 million. This accounted for 95.96 percent of the region’s total export revenue in November 2018. Georgia was the top export market destination with $30.26 million total export revenue, which shared 87.87 percent of the region’s total exports,” Perante said.
She said that the region’s total imports in November 2018 recorded a total gross weight of 85.62 million kilograms. Ores, slag and ash commodity group was the major import during the month with total revenue of $58.19 million, accounting for more than three quarters or 78.00 percent of the region’s total imports in November 2018.
The top import supplier of the region was Australia with a total import bill of $58.20 million, comprising a 78.02 percent of the region’s total imports.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)
