Of the total external trade for the month, 60.3 percent were imported goods, while the rest were exported goods.
Export sales in November 2022 amounted to $7.10 billion, reflecting an increase of 13.2 percent from the same period in 2021.
The year-to-date annual total export earnings, that is from January to November 2022, amounted to $73.17 billion. This translates to an annual increase of seven percent from the annual total export value of $68.37 billion from January to November 2021.
By commodity group, electronic products continued to be the country’s top export in November 2022 with total earnings of $4.57 billion. This amount accounted for 64.3 percent of the total exports during the period. This was followed by other manufactured goods with an export value of $337.78 million (4.8 percent); and other mineral products, which amounted to $244.89 million (3.4 percent).
By major trading partners, exports to Hong Kong comprised the highest export value amounting to $1.16 billion or a share of 16.3 percent of the total exports during the month. This was followed by the United States of America (USA) with $1.14 billion; Japan ($938.30 million); China ($876.27 million); and Singapore ($369.25 million).
Meanwhile, total imported goods in November 2022, which amounted to $10.78 billion, declined by 1.9 percent.
The decline was mainly due to the decreases in the values of four of the top 10 major commodity groups, with electronic products logging the fastest decline by 10.1 percent. This was followed by transport equipment, which dropped by 8.8 percent annually; cereals and cereal preparations by 5.9 percent; and industrial machinery and equipment by 3.5 percent.
The year-to-date annual total import value, that is from January to November 2022, amounted to $126.86 billion. This translates to an increase of 20.3 percent from $105.49 billion recorded during the same period in 2021.
Most of the imported goods were electronic products with an import value of USD 2.64 billion or a share of 24.5 percent of the total imports in November 2022.
China was the country’s biggest supplier of imported goods valued at $2.60 billion or 24.1 percent of the total imports in November 2022. Import goods from Indonesia stood at $1.14 billion followed by Japan ($927.50 million); the USA ($735.40 million); and Korea ($691.74 million).