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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1985
PRICE, VOLUME CHANGES IN JUNE EXTERNAL TRADE
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COMPARING THE FIRST HALF OF 1985 WITH THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR, THE VOLUME OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS DROPPED BY SIX PER CENT WHILE THAT OF RE-EXPORTS GREW BY 36 PER CENT, GIVING A NINE PER CENT INCREASE IN THE VOLUME OF TOTAL EXPORTS, ACCORDING TO STATISTICS RELEASED TODAY BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.
IMPORTS ALSO INCREASED BY NINE PER CENT IN VOLUME TERMS. OVER THE SAME PERIOD, THE PRICES OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS, RE-EXPORTS AND TOTAL EXPORTS ROSE, ON AVERAGE, BY TWO PER CENT, FOUR PER CENT AND THREE PER CENT RESPECTIVELY WHILE THOSE OF IMPORTS DROPPED BY TWO PER CENT, AS A RESULT, THE TERMS OF TRADE INDEX (EXPRESSED AS A RATIO OF THE TOTAL EXPORT PRICE INDEX TO THE IMPORT PRICE INDEX) ROSE BY SIX PER CENT.
EXTENDING THE PERIOD OF COMPARISON TO THE 12 MONTHS ENDING JUNE THIS YEAR WITH THE 12 MONTHS ENDING JUNE 1984, THE PRICES OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS, RE-EXPORTS AND TOTAL EXPORTS ROSE, ON AVERAGE, BY SEVEN PER CENT, EIGHT PER CENT AND SEVEN PER CENT RESPECTIVELY AND THOSE OF IMPORTS BY TWO PER CENT.
THE VOLUME OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS, ON AVERAGE, INCREASED BY THREE PER CENT AND 32 PER CENT RESPECTIVELY, SO THAT A 13 PER CENT WAS RECORDED IN THE VOLUME OF TOTAL EXPORTS. MEANWHILE, THE VOLUME OF IMPORTS ROSE BY 10 PER CENT.
PRICES ARE BASED ON UNIT VALUES WHICH DO NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT CHANGES IN THE COMPOSITION OR QUALITY OF GOODS TRADED, EXCEPT FOR SOME SELECTED COMMODITIES FOR WHICH SPECIFICATION PRICE INDEXES ARE COMPILED, CHANGES IN THE VOLUME OF TRADE ARE DERIVED FROM CHANGES IN TRADE VALUES AFTER DISCOUNTING THE EFFECT OF PRICE CHANGES.
THE CHANGES IN THE VALUE, UNIT VALUE AND VOLUME OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS BY COMMODITY GROUP FOR JUNE AND FOR JANUARY-JUNE OF 1985 ARE SHOWN IN TABLE 1.
AS SEEN FROM TABLE 1, THE EXPORT PRICES OF SOME COMMODITY GROUPS INCREASED IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1985 AS COMPARED WITH THE SAME PERIOD IN 1984, RANGING FROM FIVE PER CENT FOR TEXTILE YARN AND THREAD AS WELL AS METAL MANUFACTURES TO 10 PER CENT FOR TEXTILE MADE-UPS AND RELATED ARTICLES. DECREASES IN EXPORT PRICES WERE REGISTERED FOR COMMODITY GROUPS SUCH AS METAL ORES AND SCRAP (-21 PER CENT), WATCHES AND CLOCKS (-NINE PER CENT) DOMESTIC ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES (FIVE PER CENT), FOOTWEAR (-FOUR PER CENT) AND ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS (-THREE PER CENT).
/THE DOMESTIC