Eastern Visayas posts $161.4 million trade surplus in April 2019

By PSA-8
July 10, 2019

TACLOBAN CITY – The region posted a $161.4 million surplus in the total Balance of Trade in Goods (BoT-G) in April 2019, in contrast to the $58.9 million trade deficit in the same period in 2018.

The region’s total trade in goods in April 2019 surged to $199.0 million from $81.7 million in the same period in 2018, an increase of 143.5 percent.

Total value of exports amounted to $180.2 million, more than 15 times (1,475.3 percent) higher compared with the $11.4 million in April 2018. Total value of imports, meanwhile, was recorded at $18.8 million, lower by 73.2 percent compared with the $70.3 million imports posted in the same period in 2018 (Table 1).

The region’s total volume of exports in April 2019 was posted at 116.5 million kilograms valued at $180.2 million. The commodity group of copper and articles thereof was the major export during the month in review with total revenue of $75.1 million. This accounted for 41.7 percent of the region’s total export revenue in April 2019 (Table 2). Hong Kong was the top export market destination with $72.0 million total export revenue, which shared 40.0 percent of the region’s total exports (Table 3).

The region’s total imports amounted to $18.8 million in April 2019 with total gross weight of 54.7 million kilograms. Inorganic chemicals; organic or inorganic compounds of precious metals, of rare-earth, of radio-active elements or of isotopes commodity group was the major import during the month with total revenue of $6.0 million, comprising 31.8 percent of the region’s total imports in April 2019 (Table 4).

The top import supplier of the region in April 2019 was Vietnam with total import bill of $4.2 million, comprising 22.0 percent of the region’s total imports (Table 5).