XN000022-1987-03-09 — Page 4

MONDAY, MARCH 9, 1987

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COMPARING DECEMBER 1986 WITH DECEMBER 1985, THE VOLUME OF TOTAL EXPORTS AND IMPORTS INCREASED BY 23 PER CENT AND 18 PER CENT RESPECTIVELY. WITHIN TOTAL EXPORTS, THE VOLUME OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS INCREASED BY 18 PER CENT AND 29 PER CENT RESPECTIVELY. OVER THE SAME PERIOD, PRICES OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS INCREASED BY 5 PER CENT AND 3 PER CENT RESPECTIVELY, SO THAT FOR TOTAL EXPORTS, PRICES INCREASED BY 4 PER CENT.

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PRICES OF IMPORTS INCREASED BY 5 PER CENT. AS A RESULT, THE TERMS OF TRADE INDEX FOR THE MONTH REMAINED ALMOST UNCHANGED, AS COMPARED WITH A DECREASE RECORDED FOR THE WHOLE YEAR. THIS WAS LARGELY DUE TO A PICK UP IN THE RATE OF INCREASE IN EXPORT PRICES TOWARDS THE END OF 1986.

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. THE VOLUME OF TRADE IS DERIVED FROM TRADE VALUES BY DISCOUNTING THE EFFECT OF PRICE CHANGES.

THE CHANGES IN THE VALUE, UNIT VALUE AND VOLUME OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS BY COMMODITY GROUP FOR DECEMBER AND THE WHOLE YEAR OF 1986 AS COMPARED WITH THE CORRESPONDING PERIODS IN 1985 ARE SHOWN IN TABLE 1 WHICH HAS BEEN SENT TOGETHER WITH OTHER STATISTICAL TABLES BY FACSIMILE NETWORK AND ALSO BOXED FOR COLLECTION.

AS CAN BE SEEN FROM TABLE 1, DOMESTIC EXPORT PRICES OF MOST COMMODITY GROUPS SHOWN THEREIN INCREASED IN 1986 AS COMPARED WITH 1985. THESE INCLUDED WATCHES AND CLOCKS (+7 PER CENT) TRAVEL GOODS, HANDBAGS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES (+7 PER CENT); TEXTILE MADE-UPS AND RELATED ARTICLES (+4 PER CENT) CLOTHING (+2 PER CENT) FOOTWEAR (+1 PER CENT) AS WELL AS ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS (+1 PER CENT).

DECREASES IN DOMESTIC EXPORT PRICES WERE REGISTERED FOR RADIOS OF ALL KINDS (-8 PER CENT) METAL ORES AND SCRAP (-6 PER CENT)} DOMESTIC ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES (-4 PER CENT) AS WELL AS TEXTILE FABRICS (-1 PER CENT). PRICES OF METAL MANUFACTURES AS WELL AS TEXTILE YARN AND THREAD REMAINED UNCHANGED.

THE DOMESTIC EXPORT VOLUME OF MOST COMMODITY GROUPS INCREASED IN 1986 WHEN COMPARED WITH 1985, THE MORE SUBSTANTIAL ONES BEING TEXTILE FABRICS (+47 PER CENT) RADIOS OF ALL KINDS (+27 PER CENT) AS WELL AS TEXTILE YARN AND THREAD (+26 PER CENT). NEVERTHELESS, DECREASES IN DOMESTIC EXPORT VOLUME WERE RECORDED IN METAL ORES AND SCRAP (-26 PER CENT) TRAVEL GOODS, HANDBAGS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES (-6 PER CENT) AS WELL AS ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS (-4 PER CENT).

THE CHANGES IN THE VALUE, UNIT VALUE AND VOLUME OF IMPORTS BY END-USE CATEGORY FOR DECEMBER AND THE WHOLE YEAR OF 1986 AS COMPARED WITH THE CORRESPONDING PERIODS IN 1985 ARE SHOWN IN TABLE 2.

/AS SHOWN