MANILA, May 8 (Xinhua) -- China was the country's largest supplier of imported goods with 21.4 percent of total imports in March this year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday.
The PSA said import payments from China and the top nine countries or regions amounted to 6.85 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 76.0 percent of total imports in March.
"Import bills from China reached 1.92 billion U.S. dollars, from 1.28 billion U.S. dollars in March 2018," the PSA said.
The PSA said Japan ranked the second in March, with an import value of 882.87 million U.S. dollars or a share of 9.8 percent to total import. "This recorded a decrease of 3.8 percent from the March 2018 value of 917.32 million U.S. dollars," the PSA noted.
The United States ranked the third in March, with a 7.9 percent share to the total import bills, according to the PSA. "Its total import payments rose 12.2 percent, from 634.81 million U.S. dollars in March 2018 to 712.43 million U.S. dollars in March 2019."
South Korea placed the fourth with an import value of 701.86 million U.S. dollars in March 2019 or a share of 7.8 percent, according to the PSA. It said imports from South Korea dropped 16.3 percent, from 838.72 million U.S. dollars in March 2018.
Thailand has ranked fifth in imports with a value of 551.71 million U.S. dollars in March 2019 or a share of 6.1 percent. Import bills from Thailand decreased 5.9 percent from 586.57 million U.S. dollars in March 2018, it added.
A single purchase
