The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (Statin) is to release a new statistical product, the Export-Import Price Indices (XMPI), which will be used to measure the quarterly price changes of trade activities.

“A special report for 2018 to 2020 will be released shortly, and moving forward Statin will be releasing the XMPI on a quarterly basis,” Statin’s Director General Carol Coy disclosed at a virtual briefing held this week.

“While it is important to produce our regular statistical products, we also need to ensure that we meet the growing needs of stakeholders, this requires the development of new statistical product geared to satisfying changing user needs and also to reflect the structural changes in the Jamaican economy. The development of the XMPI is one such product,” she further said.

According to data from the latest international merchandise trade bulletin, total spending on imports and earnings from exports increased for the first half of the year — January to June. As a result of higher imports of fuel and lubricants, up 46.1 per cent, and raw materials, up 18.8 per cent, total imports for the period grew to $US2.7 billion—15.2 per cent more than that of the corresponding period last year.

Total exports for the period were valued at US$789.2 million, 28.3 per cent above the US$615.3 million earned in the 2020 period. This was largely due to increases in the value of export from the manufacturing, 25 per cent, and mining and quarrying industries.

The value of imports and exports in 2021, Statin said, was below amounts recorded for the similar months of 2019 and 2018, which it attributed to contractions in the local and global economies.

“With the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic in 2020, measures were implemented to restrict movements in order to limit the spread of the virus. These included the closure of borders and factories on a global scale, which led to lower production levels and lower demand for some products. As a result, the value of trade declined significantly in 2020 and, despite increasing in 2021, the value of imports and exports has not returned to [its] pre-pandemic levels,” the trade bulletin reported.