Foreign trade is the system by which countries exchange goods and services. Countries trade with each other to obtain things that are of better quality, less expensive or simply different from goods and services produced locally. The goods and services that are bought from other countries are called imports.

CAR imports increases by 11.6% in September 2016

• The region's Free on Board (FOB) import value of commodities increased by 11.6% from the amount of $6,056,160 in August 2016 to $76,349,888 in September 2016.

• The region's total volume of imported commodities declined by 5.3% from the volume of 60,680.3 kg in August 2016 to 382,772.9 kg in September 2016.

Imports by Commodity

• Electrical machinery and equipment, and parts thereof was the top imported commodity in September 2016. It grew from $81,898 in August 2016 to $43,773,093 in September 2016.
• Aircraft, spacecraft, and parts thereof ranked second with imports value of $21,077,015 sharing 27.6% in the total imports of the region.
• Meanwhile, nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliance, parts thereof remained the third major commodity valued at $5,532,555 or a share of 7.3% in the total value of imports in the region.
• The top 3 imported commodities had an aggregate value of $70,382,663.
• Other top imported commodities include: optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof (1.7%), plastics and articles thereof ( 1.2%), miscellaneous chemical products (1.0%), commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere (0.9%), natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, precious metals, metals clad with precious metals and articles thereof; imitation jewelry; coin ( 0.7%), iron and steel ( 0.6%), and tools, implements, cutlery, spoons and forks, of base metal; parts thereof of base metals ( 0.3%). These commodities had an accumulated import value of $5,002,089 (6.6%).
• Other imported commodities in September 2016 accounted $918,997 (1.0%) of the total import value of commodities in the region.

Imports by Country of origin

• In September 2016, United States of America, Republic of Korea, and Taiwan were the major sources of imported goods of the region. The total value of imports from these countries amounted to $53,412,322 (70%).
• The region also imported goods from Japan (10.0%), Singapore (6.0%), Malaysia (3.0%), UK of Great Britain and N. Ireland (3.0%), People�s Republic of China (3.0%), France(2.0%), India (1.0%), Germany (1.0%), Thailand (1.0%), Hongkong (0.0%), Italy (0.0%), Netherlands (0.0%), Poland (0.0%), Costa Rica (0.0%), Canada (0.0%), Israel (0.0%), Mexico (0.0%), Romania (0.0%), Switzerland (0.0%), Vietnam (0.0%), Portugal (0.0%), Turkey (0.0%), Morocco (0.0%), Australia (0.0%), Jamaica (0.0%), Sweden (0.0%). Imports from these countries contributed 30% in the total value of imported commodities of CAR.

APEC and Non-APEC members

• About 92.8% of the regions total import goods in September 2016 came from the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member countries, namely the United States of America (USA), Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Republic of China, Thailand, Hongkong, Canada, Mexico, and Vietnam.
• On the other hand, 7.2% or equivalent to $ 5,462,998 of the total regional value of imports came from non-APEC countries. This comprised 19,627.2 kg in imports volume comprising 5.1% of the total imported commodities of the region.

Technical Notes

Free on Board Value (FOB) - is the value of the goods free on board the carrier at the frontier of the exporting country. It includes inland freight, export duty and other expenses. In addition, the value of goods in the Philippine foreign trade statistics is FOB.

Country of Destination (Exports only) - it is the country where the goods are to be consumed, further processed, or manufactured.

Country of Origin (Imports only) - it is the country where the goods are mined, grown, or manufactured or where each foreign material used or incorporated in a good underwent a change in tariff classification indicating a substantial transformation under the applicable rule of origin for the good.

Exports - the goods and services that are sold to other countries.

Imports - the goods and services that a country buys from other countries.

Philippine Standard Commodity Classification (PSCC) - is used to classify the imported commodities at the most detailed level for statistical purposes.