Based on reports from the Central Statistics Division of the Department of Commerce, the island’s total imports increased from 93.46 to 99.47 tons (in thousands).
Petroleum, oil and lubricants, the island’s number one import went up from 38.45 to 44.90 thousand in tons for the second quarter this year.
Food items, the second highest on the list of CNMI imports, increased from 12.68 to 13.23 thousand tons.
Imports for cement products went up from 5.37 thousand tons to 7.44 thousand tons, while construction materials more than doubled — from 2.80 to 5.94 thousand tons.
Of the six top products, garment imports posted a decrease of 4.36 thousand in tons from 5.69 thousand in tons from January to March this year.
Beverages imports went down from 5.11 to 4.90 thousand in tons for the second quarter.
Compared to the second quarter of 2007, the CNMI’s imports for the second quarter of this year went down from 108.99 to 99.47 thousand in tons.
Total garment exports plummeted by 46.9 percent, or from $47.54 million posted in the reports for the first quarter of the year to $25.24 million for the second quarter of 2008.
Compared to the second quarter of 2007, CNMI’s total exports posted a 67.11 percent decrease to $25.24 million from last year’s second quarter garment exports which posted $76.76 million.
