Samoa’s trade deficit topped $86.4 million for the month of April this year with imports of $92.3 million exceeding exports of $5.9 million, according to a Government report.

The figures were released in a monthly report issued by the Samoa Bureau of Statistics (S.B.S.) for the month of April 2022 as part of a report is titled “Overseas Merchandise Trade.” 

“The total value of merchandise imports of $92.3 million exceeded exports of $5.9 million, resulting in a trade deficit of $86.4 million in April 2022,” reads the report.

According to the report, the total value of merchandise imports increased by 47.2 per cent ($29.6 million) to $92.3 million in April this year.

This increase was mainly driven by the importing of: mineral fuels, mineral oils (up $22.7 million); electrical machinery and equipment (up $3.7 million); mechanical machinery and equipment (up $1.8 million); iron and steel (up $1.5 million).

The Asia region has become the leading source market for imports accounting for 52.6 per cent of the total merchandise import value and also recorded the largest increase of $27 million from the previous month.

Imports from Singapore also went up by $20.3 million, Fiji increased by $4.9 million and China rose by $4.8 million to record the largest increases in the reviewed month reflecting higher imports of petroleum, flour, cement and soap to mention a few.

But in April this year the total value of merchandise exports fell by 10.2 per cent or $0.7 million to $5.9 million from the preceding month.

This decrease was due to the reduction of fats & oils which went down by $1.8 million; electrical machinery and equipment decreased by $0.5 million; vegetables also went down by $0.4 million; and so did fruit and nuts which dropped by $0.2 million.

The United States of America (U.S.A.) region recorded the largest reduction in the reviewed month, reflecting a decreases of 97 per cent and 95.3 per cent when compared to the previous month and the same month last year respectively.

Exports to USA went down by $1.8 million and New Zealand dropped by $1 million – the largest decreases for April 2022. This was due to lower exports of coconut oil, beer and taro to mention a few.