The Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) released the country’s latest trade data for the second quarter of 2023 yesterday, revealing that the country’s imports increased by 35 percent when compared to the same period last year, and exports increased by 68 percent when compared to 2022.
The BNSI said the total value of commodities imported into The Bahamas in the second quarter totaled $1.1 billion.
“The major groups of merchandise were ‘mineral fuel, lubricants and related materials’ which totaled $225 million, ‘machinery and transport equipment’ at $219 million and ‘food and live animals’ which totaled $193 million,” the report stated.
“The combined value of these categories represented 58 percent of total imports.
“Other categories that contributed to total imports were ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ which accounted for $139 million, ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials’ valued at $132 million, and ‘chemicals’, at $77 million. These groups together represented 32 percent of total imports.
“Categories that showed significant increases when compared to the same quarter last year were ‘mineral fuel, lubricants and related materials’, and ‘machinery and transport equipment’ which increased by 103 percent, and 62 percent respectively.”
In terms of exports, the country logged a total value of goods exported from the country at $247 million.
According to the BNSI report, the categories where there were a high proportion of exports were machinery and transport equipment, which totaled $118 million; manufactured goods classified by materials at $61 million, and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials at $31 million.
Combined, those products represented 85 percent of total exports.
“Categories that showed significant increases were machinery and transport equipment, crude minerals, inedible except fuels and beverages and tobacco, which increased by 340 percent, 208 percent and 65 percent respectively when compared to the same quarter last year,” the report said.
“The groups that decreased in value when compared to the same period last year were food and live animals, and chemicals which declined by 24 percent, and 23 percent, respectively.”
