XN000022-1985-01-03 — Page 5

THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1985

A COMPARISON OF THE 12 MONTHS ENDING IN OCTOBER LAST YEAR WITH THE 12 MONTHS ENDING IN OCTOBER 1983, SHOWS THAT THE VOLUME OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS INCREASED BY 20 PER CENT AND 29 PER CENT RESPECTIVELY, THUS GIVING A 23 PER CENT INCREASE IN THE VOLUME OF TOTAL EXPORTS. MEANWHILE, THE VOLUME OF IMPORTS ROSE BY 16 PER CENT. PRICES OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS ROSE, ON AVERAGE, BY 15 PER CENT WHILE THOSE OF IMPORTS ROSE BY 14 PER CENT.

PRICES ARE BASED ON UNIT VALUES WHICH DO NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT CHANGES IN THE COMPOSITION OR QUALITY OF GOODS TRADED. 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 ARE SHOWN IN TABLE 1.

AS SEEN FROM THIS TABLE, THE EXPORT PRICES OF NEARLY ALL COMMODITY GROUPS INCREASED IN OCTOBER 1984, COMPARED WITH OCTOBER 1983, WITH THE INCREASES RANGING FROM THREE PER CENT FOR DOMESTIC ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES TO 24 PER CENT FOR TEXTILE MADE-UPS AND RELATED ARTICLES. HOWEVER, DECREASES IN EXPORT PRICES WERE REGISTERED FOR METAL ORES AND SCRAP (-19%), WATCHES AND CLOCKS (-10%), AND ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS (-3%).

THE DOMESTIC EXPORT VOLUME OF MOST OF THE COMMODITY GROUPS INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY, THE MORE SUBSTANTIAL ONES BEING METAL ORES AND SCRAP (+45%), DOMESTIC ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES (+17%), ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS (+15%), TEXTILE MADE-UPS AND RELATED ARTICLES (+14%), WATCHES AND CLOCKS (+13%) AND FOOTWEAR (+11%). HOWEVER, DECREASES IN DOMESTIC EXPORT VOLUME WERE RECORDED FOR TEXTILE YARN AND THREAD (-31%), TRAVEL GOODS, HANDBAGS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES (-15%), TEXTILE FABRICS (-5% ) AS WELL AS METAL MANUFACTURES (-4%).

THE CHANGES IN THE VALUE, UNIT VALUE AND VOLUME OF IMPORTS BY END-USE CATEGORY ARE SHOWN IN TABLE 2.

AS PRESENTED IN THIS TABLE, IMPORT PRICES OF MOST OF THE END-USE CATEGORIES INCREASED OVER OCTOBER 1983, WITH THE INCREASES RANGING FROM TWO PER CENT FOR CONSUMER GOODS TO SIX PER CENT FOR RAW MATERIALS AND SEMI-MANUFACTURES. HOWEVER, DECREASES WERE REGISTERED FOR FUELS (-7%) AND CAPITAL GOODS (-1%).

MANY OF THE MAJOR IMPORTED FOODSTUFFS DECLINED IN VOLUME TERMS, THE MORE SIGNIFICANT ONES BEING SOYA BEAN OIL, PEANUT OIL AND LARD VEGETABLES; RICE; CEREALS AND CEREAL PREPARATIONS, OTHER THAN RICE, WHEAT AND FLOUR: AS WELL AS FRUIT. HOWEVER, SIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN IMPORT VOLUME WERE REGISTERED FOR LIVE POULTRY, SUGAR, WHEAT AND FLOUR, TEA AND COFFEE AS WELL AS MEAT AND MEAT PREPARATIONS.

/THE IMPORT