MARCH KEY FIGURES

	January 2015	February 2015	March 2015
	$m	$m	$m
Food and live animals	1 073	953	1 021
Beverages and tobacco	198	204	253
Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	265	261	328
Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	2 431	2 349	2 453
Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	50	43	48
Chemicals and related products, nes	2 062	2 123	2 433
Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	2 677	2 701	2 486
Machinery and transport equipment	7 674	7 154	8 204
Miscellaneous manufactured articles	3 115	3 218	2 915
Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere in the SITC	1 118	931	1 025
TOTAL	20 662	19 936	21 165

MARCH KEY POINTS


ORIGINAL ESTIMATES

• In original terms, March 2015 imports on an international merchandise trade basis were $21,165m, an increase of $1,229m (6%) on the revised February 2015 merchandise imports of $19,936m.

PRELIMINARY BALANCE OF PAYMENTS GOODS IMPORTS

Preliminary analysis shows that goods debits (imports) on a balance of payments basis in original terms rose $719m (3%) between February and March 2015.

In seasonally adjusted terms, goods debits fell $832m (4%) between February and March 2015 to $22,624m. The components driving this fall were:

• intermediate and other merchandise goods, down $384m (4%), driven by processed industrial supplies n.e.s., down $391m (12%)
• capital goods, down $256m (4%)
• consumption goods, down $206m (3%), driven by non-industrial transport equipment, down $123 (7%).

Partly offsetting these falls was the non–monetary gold component, up $14m (4%).


REVISIONS

• Revisions have been made to the previous six months to incorporate the latest administrative data relating to international merchandise trade.
• The preliminary balance of payments debits estimates incorporate the latest available data.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
April 2015	19 May 2015
May 2015	18 June 2015
June 2015	16 July 2015
July 2015	19 August 2015
August 2015	16 September 2015
September 2015	20 October 2015

INQUIRIES

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