Imports in October grew 2.3 percent to $5.02 billion from $4.904 billion a year ago, the slowest pace since May, after shipments of electronic products fell by a fifth, the National Statistics Office said Wednesday.
Total external trade in the first 10 months of the year reached $91.82 billion, up 4.1 percent
from $88.18 billion on year. Total imports grew 12.2 percent to $50.52 billion from $45.03 billion a year ago. Exports, meanwhile, fell 4.3 percent year-on-year from $43.15 billion to $41.29 billion, resulting in a 10-month trade deficit of $9.23 billion.
Payments for electronic products, which accounted for nearly a quarter of total imports, amounted to $1.24 billion, down 20 percent from $1.54 billion on year.
Semiconductors, the bulk of electronics imports, contracted 27.4 percent from $1.22 billion to $885.55 million in October this year.
Imports of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials ranked second during the month at $1.16 billion.
Transport equipment came in a third with payments of $337.49 million.
Industrial machinery and equipment, and iron and steel rounded up the top five imports with a value of $267.2 million and $132.89 million, respectively.
The other top imports for the month were plastics in primary and non-primary forms ($123.77 million); organic and inorganic chemicals ($122.39 million); cereals and cereal preparations ($84.94 million); and medicinal and pharmaceutical products, $78.25 million.
Raw materials and intermediate goods account for 35.4 percent of the total import bill at $1.78 billion, which was marginally lower than the $1.8 billion last year.
Expenditures for capital goods, comprising nearly 30 percent of total imports, fell 10.8 percent year-on-year from about $1.57 billion last year to $1.4 billion this year.
Purchases of consumer goods grew 10.1 percent to $617.93 million from $561.33 million in October, while special transactions were lower by 14 percent from $74.59 million to $64.15 million.
Comments
Post a Comment