THE increase in prices of fish and crustacean, edible fruits and tobacco contributed significantly to the rise of the overall export price index by 4 per cent to 125.3 in the quarter ended December last year.
The sub-index for ‘Fish and crustacean,
mollusk and other aquatic invertebrate’ which account for 9.5 per cent
of the total weight increased to 122.4 in the quarter under review
representing an increase of 1.2 per cent compared to 121.2 recorded in
third quarter.
According to the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS) export and Import price indices for December 2015 the
rise was mainly due to increase in prices of dried sardine, fresh fillet
and frozen fillet.
Edible vegetables and certain roots and
tubers contributed 1.8 per cent of the total weight of the exported
commodities and the index for this chapter increased by 20 per cent from
119.6 in the third quarter 2015 to 139.6 in the fourth quarter last
year. Higher export price index was mainly due to increase in prices of
pigeon peas.
The export price index for ‘Edible
fruits or melons’ which stood at 119.9 in the third quarter of 2015
increased to 131.1 in the fourth quarter representing an increase of
11.2 per cent.
The rise was due to increase in prices
of dried raw cashew nuts and cashew nut kernel. During the quarter under
review, ‘Coffee, tea, mate and spices’ recorded an average export index
of 125.4, equivalent to a decrease of 0.6 per cent compared to 126
recorded during the third quarter.
The decline was due to a fall in prices of tea and coffee.
However, when compared to the corresponding quarter in the previous year, the export price index increased by 28.1 per cent.
Similarly, the sub-index for ‘Tobacco
and manufactured tobacco substitutes’ increased by 10.2 per cent to
156.9 compared to the level recorded in the third quarter.
Likewise, when compared to the same
quarter in the previous year, the export price indeed increased by 3.2
per cent. The increase was mainly due to a rise in tobacco prices.
The export price index for ‘Ores, slag
and ash’ stood at 116.2 in the fourth quarter of 2015 which is a decline
of 1 per cent compared to 117.2 recorded in the third quarter.
The decline was contributed by a slight
fall in export prices of gold ore and copper concentrates products. The
export price index of cotton decreased by 1.6 per cent recording the
export index of 117.2 compared to 118.8 registered in the third quarter.
The decline was attributed to the decrease in the export prices of ginned cotton products.
The export price index for ‘Natural or
cultured pearls, precious stones and metals, coin,’ which account for
43.0 per cent of the total weight exported commodities decreased by 7.7
per cent from 101.0 in third quarter of 2015 to 93.3 in the fourth
quarter of 2015
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