NEWS RELEASE
EXTERNAL TRADE BULLETIN
October 2007

February 27, 2008

The October 2007 External Trade Bulletin released by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica reveals that Jamaica's expenditure on imports for the period January to October 2007 was valued at US$5,296.0 million. This represented an increase of US$557.6 million or 11.8 per cent when compared to the similar 2006 period. Total exports were valued at US$1,770.5 million, an increase of US$125.4 million or 7.6 per cent. At the end of the period, the trade gap widened, as imports were US$3,525.4 million greater than exports, when compared to the corresponding 2006 period. This represented an increase in the trade deficit of US$432.2 million or 14.0 per cent, above the amount recorded for the comparable 2006 period

During this review period the primary commodity group imported "Mineral Fuels, etcetera" which and was valued at US$1,586.8 million an increase of US$70.1 million or 4.6 per cent. Other major commodity imported were "Machinery and Transport Equipment" valued at US$1,056.4 million, "Chemicals" US$708.5 million, "Manufactured Goods" US$631.0 million and "Food" US$596.6 million. Domestic Exports for the period contributed US$1,729.6 million to total exports. Re-exports for the period amounted to US$40.9 million, with "Machinery and Transport Equipment" valuing US$25.9 million.

Traditional domestic exports for the ten month review period amounted to US$1,209.9 million, increasing by US$87.6 million or 7.8 percent. Non-traditional domestic exports for the review period totaled US$519.7 million, increasing by US$24.7 million or 5.0 per cent.

The October 2007 External Trade Bulletin outlines additional information and may be obtained at our Distribution Office, 7 Cecelio Avenue Kingston 10