SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1980
EXTERNAL TRADE: PRICE AND VOLUME MOVEMENTS
******
THE PRICES OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND IMPORTS ROSE BY 8 PER CENT AND 7 PER CENT RESPECTIVELY IN AUGUST 1980 COMPARED WITH THE SAME MONTH LAST YEAR ACCORDING TO STATISTICS RELEASED TODAY BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.
AS A RESULT, THE TERMS OF TRADE INDEX (EXPRESSED AS A RATIO OF THE DOMESTIC EXPORT PRICE INDEX TO THE IMPORT PRICE INDEX) IMPROVED SLIGHTLY BY 1 PER CENT. HOWEVER, A MUCH LARGER INCREASE IN VOLUME WAS REGISTERED FOR IMPORTS (+ 20 PER CENT) THAN FOR DOMESTIC EXPORTS (+ 8 PER CENT). ON THE OTHER HAND, THE PRICES OF RE-EXPORTS INCREASED BY 6 PER CENT, WITH VOLUME UP BY 45 PER CENT.
PRICES ARE BASED ON UNIT VALUES WHICH DO NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT CHANGES IN THE COMPOSITION OR QUALITY OF THE GOODS TRADED. CHANGES IN THE VOLUME OF TRADE ARE DERIVED FROM CHANGES IN TRADE VALUES, AFTER DISCOUNTING THE EFFECT OF PRICE CHANGES.
THE FOLLOWING IS AN ANALYSIS OF THE CHANGES IN THE VALUES, UNIT VALUES AND VOLUMES OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS BY COMMODITY:
CHANGES COMPARING AUGUST 1980 WITH AUGUST 1979
EXPORT
VALUES
EXPORT UNIT
VALUES
EXPORT VOLUMES
CLOTHING (EXCEPT FUR)
+ 12%
+ 9%
TEXTILE FABRICS
+ 10%
+ 3%
+ 3% + 6%
TEXTILE YARN AND
THREAD
13%
+ 5%
- 17%
TEXTILE MADE-UPS
AND RELATED
ARTICLES
1496
+ 7%
-
19%
ALL TRANSISTOR IZED
RADIOS
+ 19%
+ 4%
→ 15%
ELECTRONIC
COMPONENTS
+ 39%
+ 12%
+ 24%
FOOTWEAR
+ 13%
+ 14%
METAL MANUFACTURES
+ 30%
+ 15%
1% + 13%
METAL ORES AND
SCRAP
+ 64%
+
5%
+ 56%
WATCHES AND CLOCKS
+ 48%
7%
+ 60%
ALL COMMODITIES
+ 17%
8%
8%
APART FROM WATCHES AND CLOCKS, THE EXPORTS PRICES OF WHICH DROPPED BY 7 PER CENT, EXPORT PRICES OF THE MAJOR COMMODITY GROUPS INCREASED AT VARYING RATES, FROM A 3 PER CENT INCREASE FOR TEXTILE FABRICS TO A 15 PER CENT INCREASE FOR METAL MANUFACTURES.
/CORSIE RAS GROTH