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Wednesday, 25 March 2015 01:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The country’s external trade has kicked off on a subdued note in 2015 with January registering a marginal 0.6% increase in exports whilst imports were up by only 1.6%.
The trade deficit in January 2015 widened to $ 772 million in comparison to $ 752 million in January 2014 according to Central Bank.
It said earnings from exports amounted to $ 910 million in January 2015 up 0.6%, year-on-year, led by industrial exports. Earnings from industrial exports, which represent about 77% of total exports, increased marginally by 0.9% mainly due to an increase in export of petroleum products followed by machinery and mechanical appliances and leather, travel goods and footwear. Export earnings from petroleum products increased by 67.3% to $ 56 million in January 2015 mainly due to the increase in export quantity of bunker and aviation fuel, despite the reduction in prices.
Export earnings from machinery and mechanical appliances during January 2015 increased by 15.6% to $ 27 million mainly due to the increase in electrical machinery and equipment while leather, travel goods and footwear exports increased by 70.6% to $ 15 million due to the substantial increase in footwear. However, export earnings from food, beverages and tobacco declined by 44.4% to $ 21 million, while export of rubber products declined by 12.3% to $ 64 million due to a significant decline in rubber tyre exports despite the increase in exports of surgical and other gloves. Meanwhile, export earnings from textiles and garments declined marginally by 0.5% to $ 410 million reflecting declines in garment exports to both traditional and non-traditional markets.
Meanwhile, earnings from agricultural exports declined marginally by 0.6% due to lower international commodity prices. Earnings from tea exports recorded a decline of 2.2% in value terms due to lower prices in spite of a volume increase of 11.9%. Earnings from coconut products which showed an impressive growth since July 2013, declined in January 2015 due to the decline in non-kernel products exports.
Further, earnings from sea food exports continued to decline in January 2015. However, earnings from spices increased by 73.8% as a result of an increase in both price and volume of certain categories including cinnamon and pepper, while minor agricultural products also increased compared to the corresponding month in 2014.
Expenditure on imports increased marginally by 1.6%, year-on-year, to $ 1,682 million in January 2015, reflecting increases in consumer and investment good imports. The major contribution to the increase in imports came from consumer goods mainly due to higher imports of rice and personal motor vehicles. Continuing the increasing trend observed since April 2014, the expenditure on rice imports increased to $ 55 million in January 2015 in comparison to $ 1.6 million in the corresponding month of 2014 due to lower domestic production.
Meanwhile, personal motor vehicle imports increased by 115.8% due to the impact of changes in the import tariff structure for motor vehicles as well as the depreciation of the Japanese Yen. The increase in investment goods was mainly led by imports of transport equipment with significant increase in imports of buses.
Import expenditure on machinery and equipment also rose significantly with higher contribution from imports of engineering equipment. Meanwhile, intermediate goods declined by 18.7% mainly due to the decline in expenditure on fuel imports. Import expenditure on fuel declined significantly by 41.1% due to the combined effect of lower prices and volumes imported of both crude oil and refined petroleum products. Lower expenditure on wheat and maize and mineral products also contributed significantly to decline in the value of intermediate goods imports.
However, expenditure on fertiliser imports showed a significant increase due to the increase in volumes substantially despite a decline in prices. Expenditure on base metals and rubber and articles thereof also increased substantially.
