In July 2024, Eastern Visayas’ total trade amounted to USD 335.59 million. This indicates a slight decrease of 0.62 percent from the USD 337.68 million total trade recorded in July 2023 (Figure 1).

Balance of trade in goods (BoT-G) in July 2024 was posted at USD -68.82 million. This indicates a trade deficit which was more than 72 times the trade deficit reported in July 2023 at USD 0.95 million.

The total value of exports in July 2024 was USD 133.38 million, down by 20.78 percent from the USD 168.37 million exports in July 2023. Meanwhile, the total value of imports was USD 202.20 million in July 2024, posting an increase of 19.43 percent from the USD 169.31 million imports in July 2023.

The total volume of goods exported by the region in July 2024 was 27.49 million kilograms, posting a decline of 66.27 percent from the 81.51 million kilograms of goods exported in July 2023. Ore, slag and ash commodity group comprised more than three-fifths (60.85%) of the region’s exports with receipts amounting to USD 81.16 million. The People’s Republic of China was the major export market with USD 81.16 million worth of exports which shared more than three-fifths (60.85%) of the total value of exports in July 2024.

The total volume of goods imported into the region in July 2024 was 109.70 million kilograms, lower by 5.83 percent compared with the 116.49 million kilograms of goods imported in July 2023. Ores, slag, and ash commodity group comprised the bulk (87.33%) of the total value of import at USD 176.58 million. Australia and Canada which supplied USD 63.25 million and USD 49.22 million worth of imported goods contributed 31.28 percent and 24.34 percent to the total value of imports, respectively.

SGD. WILMA A. PERANTE 
Regional Director

Technical Notes

Export and Import Trade Statistics are compiled by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) from copies of export and import documents submitted to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) by exporters and importers or their authorized representatives as required by law. PSA collects copies of the following accomplished forms:

1. Export Declaration (ED – DTI form)

2. Import Entry & Internal Revenue Declaration (BOC IEIRD Form 236)

3. Informal Import Declaration and Entry (BOC Form 177)

4. Single Administrative Documents (SAD)

The output of the Automated Export Documentation System (AEDS) of the BOC is being utilized to generate export statistics. AEDS is a paperless transaction in lieu of the manual filling-up of export documents. 
Moreover, an electronic copy of the IEIRD, or SAD, is utilized to capture the monthly import figures. SAD-IEIRD is an on-line submission of import documents either by brokers or companies. These are transactions that pass through the Automated Cargo Operating System (ACOS), now called the e2m (electronic to mobile) customs system, a system implemented through the BOC e-Customs Project.

All documents (hard copies and e-files) received before the cut-off date which is every 25th day of the month, are compiled, processed and generated in monthly statistical tables for the preparation of Press Release. All documents received after the cut-off date, however, are processed and included in the generation of the revised monthly statistical tables. Final data revisions are made annually during the first quarter after the reference year to include documents received after the monthly revisions.

The digitized copies of all documents are provided by BOC and PEZA to PSA on a monthly basis through email.

The 2022 Philippine Standard Commodity Classification (PSCC) is used to classify the commodities at the most detailed 10-digit code level for statistical purposes.