HIGHER CAPITAL IMPORTS IN APRIL SUGGEST IMPROVED INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION—NEDA
MANILA— Despite the increase in inward shipments of capital goods, merchandise imports dropped by 13.7 percent in April 2012 to US$4.8 billion from US$5.5 billion last year due to reduced volume of crude oil imports and electronics production, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
“The weak performance of imports in April 2012 can be traced to the lower payments for petroleum crude due to reduced volume of crude imports as well as the decline in electronics production. For petroleum, the large importation in the previous month may have affected crude orders for April 2012, in anticipation of easing prices. On the other hand, depressed prices of semiconductors in the international market and the generally pessimistic sentiments among consumers affected global sales of electronics.” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan.
The 10.5 percent increase in imports of capital goods failed to offset the drop in payments for raw materials and intermediate goods (-20.6%), mineral fuels and lubricants (-24.3%), and consumer goods (-2.8%).
“However, the higher capital goods importations suggest that an improvement in industrial production may come in the coming months,” said Balisacan, who is also NEDA Director-General.
The value of imported capital goods grew to US$1.2 billion in April 2012 from US$1.1 billion in April 2011 given higher payments for office and EDP machines (31.6%), land transportation equipment (52.0%), telecommunication equipment and electrical machinery (5.0%), power generating and specialized machine (6.7%), and aircraft, ships and boats (5.9%).
“It must be noted however, that the higher import value of some of these capital goods can be attributed to price effects as the volumes actually declined,” the Cabinet official said, albeit some foreign purchases of capital goods increased in both value and volume reflecting the generally buoyant sentiments of businesses, which signals likely expansion of economic activities and higher volume of production.
From January to April 2012, total imports reached US$20.3 billion, lower by 4.6 percent compared to US$21.3 billion in the same period last year.
The trade-in-goods deficit for the first four months of the year declined to US$2.8 billion from US$4.7 billion in the same period a year ago.
The United States of America is the top market source of imported goods for April 2012 with an 11.9 percent share, followed by Japan with an 11.3 percent share. The other major sources of imported goods were People’s Republic of China (9.9%), Singapore (8.8%) and Taiwan (8.4%).
MRNo.2012-048
29 June 2012
