Jamaican exports have grown much stronger than imports for the month of January 2023, based on the latest International Merchandise Trade published by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica STATIN.

STATIN reports that earnings from total exports were valued at US$185.9 million, an increase of 52.3 per when compared to the US$122.0 million earned in January 2022. The increase in exports was due primarily to a 128.6 per cent increase in the export of “Crude Materials (excl. Fuels)” valued at US$53.6 million in January 2023 compared to US$23.4 million in January 2022.

Domestic exports in the review period amounted to US$141.0 million, 30.7 per cent above the US$107.9 million recorded in January 2022. This growth was due primarily to higher exports from the Mining and Quarrying industry.

Jamaica’s expenditure on imports was valued at US$592.3 million for January 2023, an increase of 12.2 per cent compared to the US$528.0 million spent during the first month of 2022. The increased spending was due mainly to higher imports of “Consumer Goods” which moved up by 21.0 per cent.

‘Fuels and Lubricants’ were up by 15.2 per cent and Capital Goods (excl. Motor Cars)” up by 21.0 per cent.

The five main trading partners for January 2023 were the United States, China, Japan, Trinidad and Tobago and Turkey. Expenditure on imports from these countries increased by 19.1 per cent to US$403.4 million. This increase was due mainly to the higher imports of fuel from the US.

The top five destinations for Jamaica’s exports were the USA, Puerto Rico, the Russian Federation, Iceland and Lativa. Exports to these countries increased by 101.3 per cent to US$152.0 million mainly due to higher exports of crude materials to Russia and fuel to Puerto Rico.