The Eastern Visayas Region posted a $183.75 million surplus in the total Balance of Trade in Goods (BoT-G) in July 2019, higher by 243.26 percent compared with the $53.53 million trade surplus in July 2018, although lower than the $225.80 million surplus the previous month of June 2019.

Total volume of exports in July 2019, weighing 70.37 million kilograms, was valued at $199.85 million.

According to the latest data from the National Statistics Authority, the July 2019’s total trade in goods in the region jumped to $215.95 million from $85.16 million in the same period in 2018, a hefty 153.57 percent increase.

The region’s total volume of exports in July 2019, weighing 70.37 million kilograms, was valued at $199.85 million. This is almost three times of the $69.35 million exports in July 2018.

The commodity group of copper and articles was the major export in the said month with a total revenue of $97.68 million. This accounted for 48.87 percent of the region’s total export revenue in July 2019.

Hong Kong was the top export market destination with $91.37 million in total receipts, cornering 45.72 percent of the pie. It was followed by China and Thailand.

Total imports slightly increased by 1.80 percent, from $15.82 million in July 2018 to $16.10 million in July 2019. Total gross weight was pegged at 50.26 million kilograms.

Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes commodity group was the major import during the month with total revenue of $3.97 million, comprised 24.64 percent of the region’s total imports in July.

The top import supplier of the region in July 2019 was Vietnam which registered a total import bill of $3.50 million, comprising 21.75 percent of the region’s total imports.