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 at home. The goods and services that are bought from other countries are called imports. Foreign trade has a significant share of the region’s Gross Regional Domestic Product and the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
CAR’s Imports and Exports
- The Free on Board (FOB) value of import goods of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in February 2020 amounted to $82,262,058, while export goods had an FOB value of $52,164,734.
Figure 1. Volume and Value of Imports and Exports, CAR:
February 2020
IMPORTS
Top 10 import commodities account for 98.1% of total receipts
- In February 2020, there were 40 commodities imported by the region with gross weight of 290,224 kilograms.
- The top 10 import commodities recorded a total FOB of $80,711,248 with 245,670 kilograms total gross weight. This translates to 98.1 percent share to the total value of imports of the region.
- Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers and parts and accessories of such articles remained the top imported goods contributing the largest share of import goods with 43.3 percent to the total imports value of the region.
- Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted came next with 29.6 percent share or equivalent to $24,363,047 in total import expenses.
- Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes ranked third top import goods of the region with 17.0 percent share or equivalent to $13,950,893.
- Articles of iron and steel contributed 3.8 percent share and ranked fourth top import goods, with a total payment of $3,147,096.
- Wood and articles of wood; wood charcoal were the fifth top imported commodities sharing 1.8 percent to total imports. These incurred a total payment of $1,520,567.
- The remaining 5 top import commodities include nickel and articles thereof (1.0 percent); printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry, manuscripts, typescripts and plans (0.6 percent); raw hides and skins (other than furskin) and leather (0.3 percent); impregnated, coated, covered or laminated textile fabrics, textile articles of a kind suitable for industrial use (0.3 percent); and Other base metals; cements; articles thereof (0.3 percent).
Figure 2. Top 3 Import Commodities, CAR: February 2020
Value of imports from the United States of America is highest
- United States of America was the biggest supplier of import commodities of CAR in February 2020 with a total value of $25,081,050.
- The Republic of Korea was the region’s second top trading partner with value of imports amounting to $18,183,068.
- Japan came third, with total imports valued at $ 12,960,561.
- Taiwan (Republic of China) was the top four supplier of import goods of the region with $ 9,677,009 expense value.
- Imports from the People’s Republic of China added $ 3,427,555 to the total value of regional imports making it as the region’s fifth top trading partner.
- Other major import trading partners of the region were Singapore ($3,379,769), UK of Great Britain and N. Ireland ($2,321,075), Thailand ($1,389,723), Malaysia ($1,333,537), and France ($969,213).
EXPORTS
Aircraft, spacecraft, and parts thereof are top export commodities
- The region’s top 10 export commodities earned a total value of $58,352,739. These commodities accounted for 99.97 percent share to the total income from exports of the region.
- Aircraft, spacecraft, and parts thereof ranked first, with the highest share recorded at 44.9 percent or a total receipt of $23,446,159.
- Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers and parts and accessories of such articles ranked second with 39.4 percent share to the total value of exports or equivalent to the region’s total earnings of $20,544,141.
- Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere (reserved for special uses by contracting parties) ranked third and comprised 12.9 percent of the total exports value of the region, translated to $6,751,727.
- Natural or cultures pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, precious metals, metals clad with precious metals and articles thereof; imitation jewellery; coin ranked fourth with 0.9 percent share or equivalent to $ 475,076 total earnings of the region.
- Toys, games and sports requisites; parts and accessories thereof were the fifth top exported goods with 0.6 percent share and recorded total earnings of $ 301,389.
- Other top 10 exported commodities for February 2020 were aluminum and articles thereof ($186,928); optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof ($114,766); rubber and articles thereof ($112,713); articles of leather; saddlery and harness; travel goods, handbags and similar containers; articles of animal gut (other than silk-worm gut) ($74,96); and articles of iron and steel ($57,195).
Figure 4. Top 3 Export Commodities, CAR: February 2020
United States of America accounts for 22.6% of region’s total exports value
- Among the trading partners of the region, exports to the United States of America comprised the highest total export value of $11,806,217. This is equivalent to 22.6 percent share to the total regional exports value.
- Commodities exported to People’s Republic of China were valued at $8,364,447 or a share of 16.0 percent, making it the second top trading partner of the region.
- Singapore came third with $6,468,103 exports value or a share of 12.4 percent.
- France remained as fourth top trading partner from the previous month with exports valued at $5,708,830.
- Netherland ranked fifth with exports valued at $5,036,746.
- Exports to Japan, UK of Great Britain and N. Ireland, Germany, Malaysia, and Taiwan (Rep. of China) were valued at $ 11,591,020. These comprised 22.2 percent of the region’s total value of exports for the month of February 2020.
