TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1986
PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES FOR JANUARY
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THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN JANUARY 1986, AT $10 530 MILLION, WAS LOWER BY SIX PER CENT OR $636 MILLION THAN IN THE SAME MONTH LAST YEAR, ACCORDING TO THE PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES PUBLISHED TODAY BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.
THE VALUE OF RE-EXPORTS ALSO DECLINED, BY FOUR PER CENT OR $395 MILLION, TO $8 563 MILLION. THUS, TAKING DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS TOGETHER, THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS, AT $19 093 MILLION, WAS FIVE PER CENT OR $1 031 MILLION LOWER THAN A YEAR EARLIER.
THE VALUE OF IMPORTS WAS $18 806 MILLION, REPRESENTING A DECLINE OF TWO PER CENT OR $313 MILLION OVER THE SAME MONTH LAST YEAR.
AS THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS WAS GREATER THAN THAT OF IMPORTS, IN JANUARY 1986 THE VISIBLE TRADE ACCOUNT RECORDED A SURPLUS OF $287 MILLION, WHICH WAS EQUIVALENT TO 1.5 PER CENT OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, COMPARED WITH 5.3 PER CENT IN JANUARY 1985.
PUTTING THE MONTH'S TRADE FIGURES INTO CONTEXT, A GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN POINTED OUT THAT COMPARING THE 12 MONTHS ENDING JANUARY 1986 WITH THE 12 MONTHS ENDING JANUARY 1985, OVERALL TRADE VALUE GREW BY THREE PER CENT. FURTHER, THE GROWTH RATE OF THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS, AT FOUR PER CENT, WAS FASTER THAN THAT OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, AT TWO PER CENT.
A VISIBLE SURPLUS, EQUIVALENT TO 1.3 PER CENT OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, WAS RECORDED FOR THE TWELVE MONTHS ENDING JANUARY 1986, COMPARED WITH A VISIBLE TRADE GAP (THAT IS, THE PROPORTION OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS NOT COVERED BY TOTAL EXPORTS) OF 0.8 PER CENT IN THE PREVIOUS TWELVE-MONTH PERIOD.
COMMENTING ON THESE COMPARATIVE FIGURES, A GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT SPOKESMAN SAID THAT THE DECLINE IN THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN JANUARY 1986 (COMPARED WITH JANUARY 1985 AND PARTICULARLY WITH DECEMBER 1985) WAS INFLUENCED BY THE RUSH SHIFMENT BY MANUFACTURERS TOWARDS THE END OF LAST YEAR, TO FULFILL HIGHER QUOTA UTILISATION RATES FOR RESTRAINED TEXTILE ITEMS AND TO SECURE PAYMENTS BEFORE THE CHINESE NEW YEAR, WHICH FELL IN EARLY FEBRUARY 1986.
BECAUSE OF THIS, THE PERFORMANCE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED FOR THE 3-MONTH PERIOD OF NOVEMBER 1983 TO JANUARY 1986.
OVER THIS PERIOD THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS DECLINED BY ONLY ONE PER CENT COMPARED WITH A YEAR AGO. THIS REPRESENTED A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT COMPARED WITH THE FALL OF 12 PER CENT FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING OCTOBER 1985.
/THE FOLLOWING