2008 TOTAL TRADE STANDS AT $105.824 BILLION

Total external trade in goods for 2008 reached $105.824 billion, a decrease of 0.1 percent from $105.979 billion in 2007. Total export receipts fell by 2.8 percent to $49.078 billion from $50.466 billion in 2007. On the other hand, total imports rose by 2.2 percent to aggregate dollar expenditure of $56.746 billion from $55.514 billion in 2007. The balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) for the Philippines registered a $7.669 billion deficit in 2008, up by 51.9 percent from the previous year’s deficit of $5.048 billion.

2008 TOP 10 EXPORTS ACCOUNT 76.9 PERCENT OF EXPORT RECEIPTS

Accounting for 76.9 percent of the aggregate export revenue in 2008, receipts from the top ten exports totaled to $37.752 billion, posting a 5.3 percent negative growth from $39.865 billion in 2007. (see Table 2)

Electronic Products continued to be the top earner with a 58.1 percent of the total exports or a decrease of 8.3 percent to $28.501 billion from $31.085 billion in 2007.

Articles of Apparel and Clothing Accessories followed with a combined share of 4.0 percent and an aggregate receipt of $1.949 billion or 15.3 percent lower than the $2.300 billion in 2007.

Cathodes and Sections of Cathodes of Refined Copper ranked third with a share of 2.7 percent, posting a year-on-year growth of 1.2 percent to $1.309 billion from $1.294 billion in 2007.

Petroleum Products, contributing 2.5 percent of the total export receipts, were the RP’s fourth top export in 2008 with sales amounting to $1.240 billion, reflecting an increase of 11.9 percent from $1.109 billion in 2007.

Woodcrafts and Furniture, accounting for 2.3 percent share, ranked fifth with export receipts of $1.140 billion or a growth of 12.6 percent from $1.012 billion in 2007.

Rounding up the list of top ten exports for 2008 were Coconut Oil, worth $1.040 billion, up by 41.7 percent; Ignition Wiring Sets and Other Wiring Sets Used in Vehicles, Aircrafts and Ships with an export value of $901.88 million, a year-on-year growth of 1.2 percent; Other Products Manufactured from Materials Imported on Consignment Basis, $656.60 million or a decline of 4.5 percent; Metal Components with proceeds billed at $577.65 million, gained by 19.0 percent; and Gold,  worth $437.85 million or an increase of 64.0 percent from $266.94 million in 2007.

Aggregate payment for the country’s top ten imports for 2008 reached $45.685 billion or 80.5 percent of the total import bill, registering a 0.3 percent increase from $45.532 billion in 2007. (see Table 3)

Electronic Products, accounting for 35.3 percent of the total import bill, posted a decrease of 19.7 percent to $20.026 billion from $24.954 billion in 2007.

Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials ranked second with a 21.8 percent share and posted a growth of 29.2 percent to $12.395 billion from last year’s $9.593 billion.

Transport Equipment ranked third, comprising 4.8 percent of the total imports and grew by 12.1 percent to $2.718 billion from $2.424 billion in 2007.

Cereals and Cereal Preparations, ranking fourth, recorded a share of 4.6 percent or $2.599 billion worth of imports, up by 128.3 percent from $1.139 billion a year ago.

Industrial Machinery and Equipment ranked fifth with a 4.0 percent share of the total imports, worth $2.298 billion, higher by 8.6 percent from $2.116 billion in 2007.

Iron and Steel, accounting for 2.8 percent of total imports, ranked sixth as foreign bill amounted to $1.610 billion or an annual growth of 31.9 percent from $1.221 billion in 2007.

Rounding up the list of top ten imports for 2008 were Organic and Inorganic Chemical, $1.259 billion; Plastics in Primary and Non-Primary Forms, $1.089 billion; Telecommunication Equipment and Electrical Machinery, $895.70 million; and Textile Yarn, Fabrics, Made-up Articles and Related Products, $795.69 million.

Total external trade in goods with the European Union (EU) grossed $12.921billion or 12.2 percent of the country’s total trade. Exports to EU reached $8.500 billion or 17.3 percent of the total export receipts, while imports were valued at $4.421 billion or a share of 7.8 percent, resulting to a balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) surplus of $4.080 billion. Among the EU member-countries, Netherlands was RP’s top trading partner with a total trade of $4.126 billion or 31.9 percent of EU’s total trade. Receipts from exports to Netherlands totaled to $3.708 billion while payment for imports was $417.95 million or a trade surplus of $3.290 billion (see Table 7)

Major exports to EU member-countries in 2008 were Electronic Products, $5.855 billion; Coconut Oil, $412.14 million; Other Products Manufactured from Materials Imported on Consignment Basis, $346.91 million; Articles of Apparel and Clothing Accessories, $190.07; and Tuna, $163.25 million. (see Table 8)

Meanwhile, top five imported goods from EU member-countries were Electronic Products, $1.855 billion; Transport Equipment, $517.27 million; Industrial Machinery and Equipment, $415.28 million; Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Products, $313.26; and Chemical Materials and Products n.e.s., $98.78 million.  (see Table 9)

ASEAN TOTAL TRADE STANDS AT $21.470 BILLION

Total external trade in goods with ASEAN member-countries for 2008 amounted to $21.470 billion or 20.3 percent of the country’s entire trade. Exports to ASEAN member-countries were valued at $7.090 billion while imports were worth $14.380 billion, generating a trade deficit of $7.290 billion. Singapore emerged as the country’s top trading partner among the ASEAN member-countries with a total trade accounting for $8.552 billion or 39.8 percent share of the ASEAN total trade. Exports to Singapore registered earnings of $2.607 billion while imports payment was $5.945 billion, which resulted to a $3.339 billion trade deficit. (see Table 7)

Leading exports for the ASEAN member-countries were Electronic Products, $3.474 billion; Petroleum Products, $636.15 million; Cathodes and Sections of Cathodes of Refined Copper, $322.83 million; Metal Components, $213.29 million; and Fertilizers Manufactured, $36.92 million. (see Table 8)

Top imports from the ASEAN member-countries were Electronic Products, $4.106 billion; Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials, $3.427 billion; Cereals and Cereal Preparations, $1.674 billion;, Transport Equipment $1.187 billion; and Plastics in Primary and Non-Primary Forms, $374.49 million. (see Table 9)

APEC TOTAL TRADE TO RP REACHES $82.118 BILLION

Total external trade with APEC member-countries for 2008 amounted to $82.118 billion or 77.6 percent of the entire trade. Export receipts totaled to $38.927 billion or 79.3 percent of the total exports while import payments summed up to $43.192 billion or a 76.1 percent share of the total imports, resulting to a trade deficit of $4.265 billion. Topping the list were USA, $15.428 billion or 14.6 percent share; Japan, $14.311 or 13.5 percent share; People’s Republic of China, $9.715 billion or 9.2 percent share; and Singapore, $8.552 billion or 8.1 percent share of the APEC total trade. (see Table 10)

Electronic Products were still the major export to APEC member-countries with receipts valued at $22.357 billion or 57.4 percent share of the total APEC exports. The other top exports were Articles of Apparel and Clothing Accessories, $1.620 billion; Cathodes and Section of Cathodes of Refined Copper, $1.214 billion; Petroleum Products, $1.137 billion; and Woodcrafts and Furniture, $902.58 million.  (see Table 11)

Topping the list of imported goods from APEC countries were Electronic Products, $17.924 billion; Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials, $5.726 billion; Cereals and Cereal Preparations, $2.469 billion; Transport Equipment, $2.055 billion; and Industrial Machinery and Equipment, $1.807 billion. (see Table 12)

TECHNICAL NOTES

1. The figures reported in this 2008 Annual Special Release are final and higher than the sum of the reported figures on the monthly press releases, as it includes data from the documents that arrived late for inclusion in their respective months.
    

2. The commodity groupings included here are in accordance with the 2004 Philippine Standard Commodity Classification (PSCC), an integration of the ASEAN Harmonized Commodity description and Coding System (HS) issued by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the 1993 PSCC (as amended in 1999) based on the Standard International Trade Commodity (SITC) Rev. 3 issued by the United Nations Statistical Office in 1986.  This is in compliance with NSCB Resolution No. 03, Series of 2005 entitled "Approving and Adopting the 2004 Philippine Standard Commodity Classification" by all concerned government agencies and instrumentalities.
    

3. All transactions that pass through the Automated Export Documentation System (AEDS) are included in the compilation of export statistics.
    

4. Starting with 2006 series, import statistics are adjusted based on the transactions that pass through the Automated Cargo Operating System (ACOS).