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 December 2019 amounted to $86,474,603 while export goods had an FOB value of $45,436,143.
Figure 1. Free on Board (FOB) Value of Imports and Exports:
CAR, December 2019
The top 10 import commodities account for 98.4 percent of total receipt
- The top 10 import commodities recorded a total FOB of $85,088,423 with a total gross kilo of 41,565 kilograms. This translates to 98.4 percent share to the total value of imports of the region.
- Natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, precious metals, metals clad with precious metals and articles thereof; imitation jewelry; coin accounted the largest share of import goods with 49.7 percent to the total import value of the region. The region imports these from three countries namely Japan, Republic of Korea and Hong Kong (China).
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Nickel and articles thereof came next with 19.2 percent share or equivalent to $16,625,238 in total receipts.
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Impregnated, coated, covered or laminated textile fabrics; textile articles of a kind suitable for industrial use which contributed 16.5 percent share, ranked third top import goods of the region, recording a total payment receipt of $14,300,768.
- Articles of apparel and clothing accessories not knitted or crocheted ranked fourth top imported commodities with 9.7 percent share to total imports. These incurred a total payment of $8,397,471.
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Articles of iron or steel came fifth top imports with a share of 1.0 percent or equivalent to a total value of $870,134.
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The remaining 5 top import commodities include miscellaneous manufactured articles ($574,928), silk ($417,924), nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances; parts thereof ($338,614), glass and glassware ($304,247), and ceramics ($256,895).
Value of imports from Republic of Korea is highest
- The Republic of Korea was the biggest supplier of import commodities of CAR in December 2019 with a total value $24,673,689.
- United States of America was the region’s second top trading partner with value of imports amounting to $24,296,979.
- Taiwan (Republic of China) came third, with total imports valued at $10,612,587.
- Japan was the top four supplier of import goods of the region with $10,287,474 value of imports.
- Imports from People’s Republic of China contributed $4,638,638 to the total value of the regional imports making it as the region’s fifth top trading partner.
- Other major import trading partners of the region were Singapore ($2,752,606), UK of Great Britain and N. Ireland ($2,675,886), Thailand ($1,190,590), Malaysia ($1,066,464) and France ($1,044,452).
- Countries not included in the top 10 trading partners shared a total import value of $3,235,238.
Electronic motors and generators are top exported commodities
- The region’s top 5 export commodities earned a total value of $44,731,300. These commodities accounted for 98.4 percent share to the total income from exports of the region.
- Electric motors and generators which ranked first shared 41.5 percent or recorded a total receipt of $18,833,298.
- Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances; parts thereof ranked second with 29.3 percent share to the total value of exports or equivalent to the region’s additional earning of $13,311,311.
- Aircraft, spacecraft, and parts, which ranked third, comprised 13.6 percent share of the total exports value of the region contributing $ 6,175,392.
- Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere ranked fourth with 12.3 percent share or equivalent to $5,578,454 export earnings.
- Natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, precious metal, metal clad with precious metals and articles thereof; imitation jewelry; coin ranked fifth with 1.8 percent share and recorded earnings of $832,845.
- Other exported commodities for December 2019 were apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted (0.4 percent), toys, games and sports requisites; parts and accessories thereof (0.3 percent), iron or steel (0.3 percent), leather; saddlery and harness; travel goods, handbags and similar containers; articles of animal gut (0.2 percent), plastics and articles thereof (0.1 percent), optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof (0.1 percent), rubber and articles thereof (0.1 percent), aluminum and articles thereof (0.1 percent), and other made up textile articles; sets; worn clothing and worn textile articles; rags (0.01 percent).
Figure2. Top 5 Export Commodities: CAR, December 2019
United States of America accounts for 26.0 percent 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 with $11,793,752. This was equivalent to 26.0 percent share to the regional total export value.
- Commodities exported to People’s Republic of China registered a value of $6,600,524 or a share of 14.5 percent, making it the second top trading partner of the region.
- Netherlands came third with $6,220,911 export value or a share of 13.7 percent.
- France and Singapore ranked fourth and fifth with exports values of $3,955,048 and $3,884,169, respectively.
- Other trading partners registered a value $12,981,739. These comprised 28.6 percent of the region’s total export value of exports for the month of December 2019.
