CV posts negative trade balance in Q3

Domestic trade in Central Visayas registered a negative trade balance in the third quarter of 2016, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed yesterday.

Based on the PSA report, Region 7 registered the highest negative trade balance of P19.49 billion during the period.

It means that the value of the region's incoming traded products exceeded that of its outgoing traded products domestically.

A trade deficit is an economic measure of a negative balance of trade in which the value of goods incoming to the region exceeded that of the goods outgoing.

A trade deficit represents a significant buying from various domestic markets within the country.

Unlike in the third quarter of 2015, CV registered a positive trade balance of P5.18 billion.

Nationwide, the total quantity of domestic trade transactions via water and air increased by 21.4 percent to 4.09 million tons during the third quarter last year from 3.37 million tons in the same period of 2015. About 99.8 percent were traded through water.

Similarly, the total value of commodities that flowed within the country reached P149.14 billion during the third quarter of 2016, up by 65 percent from P90.40 billion in the same period of 2015.

Machinery and transport equipment amounting to P47.31 billion accounted for the biggest, sharing 31.7 percent of total value of domestic trade during the period. Food and live animals with P36.53 billion ranked second or 24.5 percent, followed by mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials with PHP21.42 billion (14.4%).

Domestic trade is expected to continue to grow on the back of robust domestic spending, which has been propelling the Philippine economy.

Buoyant trade activities are evident as people are buying and shipping commodities.

Domestic trade statistics are compiled from coasting manifests and coastwise passenger manifest collected from Philippine Ports Authority and from airway bills from Philippine Airlines collected by PSA.

Commodity flow or domestic trade statistics are generated from these documents to record flows of goods through air, rail, and water transport systems in the country.