BIGGEST BABEL'S IMPORTS COME FROM THAILAND

Pangkalpinang, Feb 1 (ANTARA)- The imports of Bangka Belitung (Babel) province throughout last year reached 13.98 million US dollars, or 27.13 pct of the province's total imports worth 51.53 million US dollars.

Head of the Babel Central Bureau of Statistics Syafril said here Monday last year Babel imports dropped 0.27 pct compared to the 51.67 million US dollars in the same period the year earlier.

"The drop in the import value was caused by a decline in the import of oil and gas by 30.34 pct from 21.85 million US dollars to 15.22 million US dollars, while non-oil/gas imports increased 21.77 pct from 29.82 million US dollars to 36.31 million US dollars," he said.

He added that in the January-December 2009 period, the biggest suppliers of goods were Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, China and Sweden.

Malaysia is Babel's second biggest importer during said period reaching 11.43 million US dollars, or 22.18 pct, followed by Singapore 9.75 million US dollars or 18.92 pct.

Vietnam 6 million US dollars or 11.65 pct, China 5.22 million US dollars or 10.13 pct and Sweden 2.5 million US dollars or 10.13 pct.

"The total contribution of the six countries reached 94.86 pct of the entire of Babel's imports during the Jan-Dec 2009 period," he said.

He added that of the total imports of nonoil/gas imports during said period, sea transportation means gave the biggest contribution of 15.17 million US dolllars, or 41.78 pct, followed by boilers and machinery 11.90 million US dolllars or 32.78 pct, vehicles and their parts 2.46 million US dollars or 6.78 pct, iron and steel 2.29 million US dollars, or 6.31 pct, iron and steel products 1.85 million US dollars or 5.10 pct, and electric machinery and equipment 0.97 million US dolllars, or 2.68 pct.

"The contribution of the six nonoil/gas commodities reached 95.43 pct of the total nonoil/gas imports," he said.