NEWS RELEASE
EXTERNAL TRADE BULLETIN
April 2007

July 23, 2007

The April 2007 External Trade Bulletin released by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica reveals that Jamaica’s expenditure on imports of goods during the period January to April 2007 amounted to US$1,965.6 million. This represented an increase of US$150.9 million or 8.3 per cent over the US$1,814.7 million recorded for the same period of 2006.
Total exports for the period amounted to US$700.7 million an increase of US$57.7 million over the US$ 642.6 million recorded for the same 2006 period. The trade deficit at the end of the January to April 2007 period was US$1,264.9 million, an increase of US$93.2 million or 8.0 per cent.
 
The major commodity groups imported during this period were: “Mineral Fuels, etcetera” valued at US$546.9 million, “Machinery and Transport Equipment”, US$414.5 million, “Chemicals” US$250.0 million, “Manufactured Goods” US$240.8 million and “Food”
 US$232.3 million. Together, these commodities accounted for 85.7 per cent of Jamaica’s total imports.

Domestic Exports for the first four months of 2007 were valued at US$684.1 million or US$ 54.8 million above the comparable 2006 period. Re-exports amounted to US$16.6 million of which “Machinery and Transport Equipment” accounted for US$11.1 million.

Traditional domestic export for the four month period ending April 2007 were valued at US$461.0 million, improving by US$13.5 million over the comparable 2006 period. Exports of non-traditional items earned US$223.1 million, increasing by US$41.3 million or 22.7 per cent.

The April 2007 External Trade Bulletin outlines additional information and may be obtained at our Distribution Office, Cecelio Avenue Kingston 10