JSE: 10 up 10 down

March 11, 2014 by

Tuesday, 11th March 2014 | In Tuesday’s trading on the Jamaica stock market, the prices of 10 stocks rose and 10 declined as 33 securities traded resulting in 6,450,322 shares trading, valued at $26,852,072.

Main Market trading | The advancing and declining stocks tilted the indices marginally up with the JSE Market Index inching up by 29.07 points to 77,412.89 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index up by 32.50 points to close at 85,268.52.

Gains | Ciboney exchanging 1,235,982 shares at 2 cents higher to closed at 8 cents; National Commercial Bank gained 15 cents to close at $19.35 with 524,529 units changing hands; Pan Jamaican Investment closed at $50.01, up a cent with 10,498 shares; Radio Jamaica with 9,672 shares closed at $1.40 for a 5 cents gain; Sagicor Real Estate Fund put in 17,425 units at $7.19 for a gain of 2 cents; Scotia Group 6,400 shares at $21 an increase of 40 cents and Seprod 9,168 shares at 49 cents higher at $11.50.

Firm| Stocks in the main market trading firm are Barita Investments with 15,000 shares closing at $2.30; Jamaica Broilers 64,355 shares to close at $4.80; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 112,400 ordinary at $7.19; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference, 220,000 units at $2, and 333,000 units of the 8.75% preference at $3; Jamaica Producers 15,131 units at $18.26; Sagicor Group 89,670 shares at $9; Sagicor Investments 17,366 units at $18 and Supreme Ventures 52,123 units at $2.35.

Declines| Cable & Wireless traded 1,570,376 shares in closing 10 cents lower to end at 60 cents; Caribbean Cement 9,969 shares to close down 11 cents at $4.39; Carreras with 43,827 shares at $34.70 down a cent; Grace Kennedy with 44,150 shares at $59.99 down a cent; Mayberry Investments 36,865 shares at $1.90 off by 10 cents and Scotia Investments 4,000 shares at $25.50, down by $1.50.

JSEIndicesMar11Junior Market trading | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 9.24 points to close at 722.82.

Gains | Three stocks closed higher with Jamaican Teas trading 34,325 units to close at $3.06, up 4 cents; Lasco Distributors with 231,781 units at $1.35 with an increase of 4 cents and Lasco Manufacturing with 249,951 shares at a cent higher at $1.22.

Firm Trades | Caribbean Producers traded 324,496 units at $2.70; Derrimon Trading had 516,735 shares changing hands in closing at $2.50, Honey Bun 11,309 units at $3.05 and Lasco Financial Services 139,375 units at $1.30.

Declines| Access Financial Services traded down by $1.10 with 366,491 units at $8; Cargo Handlers lost 69 cents in closing at $14.31 with 653 units; Caribbean Cream traded 20,200 units, 6 cents lower at 75 cents and General Accident had 113,100 shares changing hands at $1.59.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 6 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and one stock with the offer that was lower.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , ,

TTSE: 9 stocks gained

March 11, 2014 by

Tuesday, 11th March 2014 | The prices of 9 stocks rose in today’s trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange as 17 securities traded with 1 declining and 7 trading firm leading to the Composite Index advancing by 3.23 points to close at 1,191.53, the All T&T Index moving up by 5.72 points to 2,001.61 and the Cross Listed Index inching up by 0.10 points to close at 50.09. Two stocks closed at 52 weeks high. Trading amassed a volume of 749,891 shares valued at $5,355,311.

Gains | Clico Investment Fund that traded 85,750 shares valued at $1,857,183 as the price advanced by 12 cents to end at $21.66; First Citizens Bank with 34,071 shares valued at $1,283,802 with the price closing up a cent at $37.70; Grace Kennedy 1,048 shares closing at $3.70 for a 5 cents gain; National Commercial Bank with 500,000 shares changing hands for a value of $590,000, the price closed at $1.18 for a gain of 2 cents; National Flour Mills 4,400 $1.11 up a cent, to close at a new 52 weeks high; LJ B Williams 2,000 units at 79 cents for a 10 cents gain; Neal & Massy 1,500 shares, closing at a new 52 weeks high of $66.30, up 5 cents; Trinidad Cement with a volume of 89,223 shares traded for $196,641, the stock closed at $2.25 for a 9 cents gain and Scotiabank gained $2.40 to end the day at $72.50 in trading 285 units.

Declines | Firstcaribbean International Bank encountered a loss of 2 cents to close at $6.48.

TTSEMar11Firm trades | ANSA Mcal added 15,997 shares valued at $1,063,801 in closing at $66.50; Scotia Investments with 6,143 units closed at $1.53; Praetorian Property Mutual Fund 4,000 units closed at $3.41; National Enterprises 2,404 units ended the day at $18.25; West Indian Tobacco 1,318 shares at $118; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 1,100 shares at 48 cents and Agostini’s 552 units for $17.79.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 3 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 3 stocks with offers that were lower.

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

JSE: Low trading, another high for C&W

March 10, 2014 by

Monday, 10th March 2014 | In trading on the Jamaica Stock market, the prices of 12 stocks rose and 8 declined as 27 securities traded resulting in 5,152,645 shares trading valued at $14,962,508. Cable & wireless closed at yet a new 52 weeks high and Pulse Investments closed at a new 52 weeks low.

Main Market | 8 companies in the main market advanced and 7 declined as the indices moved up with the JSE Market Index gaining 307.89 points to 77,383.82 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index moving up 344.12 points to close at 85,236.02.

Gains | Stocks recording gains are Cable & Wireless gaining of 5 cents to close at 70 cents, 52 weeks high, with 3,778,521 units changing hands; Grace Kennedy with 101,500 units at $60 as the price gained 50 cents; Jamaica Stock Exchange with 7,482 units as the price rose 20 cents to end at $2.00; Mayberry Investments 195,661 units with the price closing at $2.00 for a 10 cents gain; Pan Jamaican Investment was up $1.95 to close at $50 with 5,730 units changing hands; Sagicor Real Estate Fund 12,940 shares at $7.17 for a 2 cents gain; Scotia Group with 63,862 units at $20.60 up a mere 5 cents and Seprod with 10,996 units at $11.01, up 11 cents.

Firm | There were only 5 stocks in the main and US dollar markets to close without price changes. Desnoes & Geddes with 44,754 shares at $5; Jamaica Broilers 3,337 shares at $4.80; Proven Investments ordinary, 66,000 units at 18US cents; Proven Investments 8% preference, 500 units closing at $5.09 and Sagicor Investments with 1,000 units at $18.

Declines | Seven stocks declined in the main market with Caribbean Cement losing 25 cents to end at $4.50 with 34,137 shares changing hands; Carreras with 3,000 units at $34.71 a fall of 9 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers ordinary, only 2,000 units at $7.19, down 25 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference with 252,200 units at $3.00 for a 5 cents fall; National Commercial Bank 7,730 units as the price declined by 20 cents to $19.20; Pulse Investments traded at 75 cents with 106,700 units, the price was off 12 cents at the end of trading and Sagicor Group 79,275 units for 10 cents lower at $9.

JSEIndicesMar10Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index eased 0.47 points to close at 732.06 as only 7 stocks traded with 4 advancing and 2 declining.

Gains | Stocks trading up are Consolidated Bakeries with 110,800 shares at $1.20, up 10 cents; Dolphin Cove 1,020 units at $8.40, up 10 cents; Lasco Financial with only 1,000 units, closed at $1.30 for a gain of 9 cents and Medical Disposables with 200,000 shares, closed at $2.05 for a gain of 5 cents.

Firm Trades | KLE Group traded 5,000 shares at $1 as the sole stock in the junior market to close with the price unchanged.

Declines | Only two junior market companies lost ground in trading with Derrimon Trading having 4,500 units changing hands at 5 cents lower to close at $2.50 and Lasco Distributors losing 9 cents in trading 53,000 units to close at $1.31.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 8 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 4 with offers that were lower.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , ,

TTSE: Moderate trading continues

March 10, 2014 by
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Monday, 10th March 2014 | Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange was moderate and resulted in 57,426 shares changing hands valued at $1,412,302 as 9 securities traded with 3 advancing, 3 declining and 3 trading firm and resulted in the Composite Index falling 1.70 points to close at 1,188.30, the All T&T Index declining by 2.71 points to 1,995.89 and the Cross Listed Index easing by 0.10 points to close at 49.99.

Gains | Angostura Holdings with 2,188 shares valued at $24,068 and gained 21 cents to end at $11; Clico Investment Fund traded 5,180 shares valued at $111,577, advancing by 4 cents to end at $21.54; National Flour Mills with 31,780 shares changing hands for a value of $34,958 as the price closed up by 3 cents to $1.10.

TTSEMar10Firm Trades | Stocks trading with no price movements are Neal & Massy with 1,757 shares at $66.25; Republic Bank 8,987 shares at $117.52 for a value of $1,056,152 and Sagicor Financial Corporation 1,748 units at $7.45.

Declines | Jamaica Money Market Brokers which fell 2 cents to 48 cents in trading a mere 149 units; Scotiabank falling 90 cents to close at $71.10 while trading only 637 units and Trinidad Cement that lost 4 cents in closing at $2.16 with 5,000 shares for a value of $10,800.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 4 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 4 stocks with offers lower.

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

Grace doing better than bottom-line

March 10, 2014 by

2013 was a remarkable year for Grace Kennedy despite reporting lower profit after tax compared to 2012. Remarkable indeed, as the 2013 net results speaks volumes about the Group’s profit potential going forward.

The Group’s profit after tax was $3.22 billion, which was slightly lower than the 2012’s $3.48 billion. The results for 2013 suffered from some restructuring cost in the insurance segment, losses picked up from the government debt exchange program and increased taxation due to a number of factors. By comparison, the 2012 prior year enjoyed a much lower tax cost from the lowering of the Jamaican tax rate to 25 percent and utilization of previous year’s tax losses. In 2013, the changes in taxation dragged down a 24 percent increase in profit before tax of $5.08 billion compared to $4.1 billion in 2012, resulting in earnings per share coming out at $9.65 versus $10.41 in 2012. On the upside, in 2013, the Group benefited from a sharp increase in gains in foreign currencies trading and holdings and from changes in pension liabilities at Hardware & Lumber.

Pretax profit was up 32 percent in the final quarter of the year, well off from the 53 percent growth in the second quarter, but well above the 14 percent in the first quarter and the flat profits in the third quarter.

Graph&MagnifyingGlass650x250Total revenues gained 11 percent for the year to $69.53 billion. The December quarter grew by 14 percent compared to 4 percent in the first quarter of the year and 11 percent in quarters two and three. Other income grew sharply by 65 percent to $1.7 billion helped by a big jump in foreign exchange gains. Expenses, on the other hand, grew by 9.85 percent to reach $63.9 billion.

Segment performance | Revenue changes varied from segment to segment with money services gaining 14.4 percent to $5.54 billion, food trading 11 percent to hit $44.6 billion, retail and trading 8.3 percent to $6.8 billion, banking only 3.6 percent to reach $5.54 billion and 2.2 percent for insurance to $4.76 billion. Segment profit saw food trading increasing 23 percent to $1.3 billion, banking was flat at $676 million, insurance fell to $109 million from $384 million but money transfer services grew by 20.6 percent to $1.88 billion and retail and trading 98 percent.

The insurance, banking and money services segments launched new products. There was some fallout in the division however, due to the debt exchange, structural changes and a claims review in the insurance segment. These negatively impacted the profitability of the segments.

Regional performance | Jamaica accounts for 64 percent of revenues with a moderate increase in 2013 of 6 percent to $43 billion. The UK enjoyed a 17 percent increase, USA 13 percent, Canada 20 percent, other European countries 57 percent and Africa 91 percent. Changes in currency rates would have played a big role in the growth in the overseas markets.

Grace should go on to earn between $12 to 13 per share in 2014 making the stock extremely cheap.

Grace Kennedy is an IC Insider Buy Rated stock.

Related posts | Grace’s profit up 41% in June quarter | Grace looking up

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: , ,

JSE: C&W 306% gain in 2 months

March 7, 2014 by

Friday, 7th March 2014 | How about 306% gain on one’s money in just two months? That is how much Jamaica’s Cable & Wireless shares has gained so far this year when the price closed at 65 cents in today’s trading. Most of the gains came after the company released nine months’ results to December 2013 in mid-February.

In today’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Market, the prices of 8 stocks rose and 10 declined as 29 securities traded resulting in 6,275,259 shares traded, valued at $23,546,563.

Main Market | More companies in the main market declined than advanced as the indices closed down marginally with the JSE Market Index inched down by 32.59 points to 77,075.93 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index eased by 49.43 points to close at 84,891.90.

Gains | Five stocks recorded gains led by Cable & Wireless trading 3,775,010 shares at a new 52 weeks high of 65 cents as the price gained 9 cents; Caribbean Cement had 46,696 units changing hands with the price gaining 55 cents to close at $4.75; Kingston Wharves traded 958,682 units to close at $6.06 for a 48 cents gain; Sagicor Real Estate Fund put in 14,928 units at $7.15, an increase of 15 cents and Scotia Group 23,014 shares at $20.55, a 5 cents increase.

Firm | Five stocks in the main market closed without a price change including one from the preference section along with the Proven Investments US listing. Desnoes & Geddes with 5,246 units to close at $5; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.50% preference shares with 10,500 units at $3.50; Mayberry Investments 6,906 shares at $1.90; Proven Investments ordinary 7,300 units at 18 US cents; Sagicor Group 93,657 shares at $9.10 and Salada Foods with just 100 units at $9.

Declines | Stocks declining are Carreras, trading a decent volume of 261,845 shares to close down 20 cents at $34.80; Grace Kennedy 37,043 units with the price closing at $59.50 for a 50 cents fall; Jamaica Broilers swapped 99,308 units at $4.80 as the price shed 4 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers put in 24,506 shares at $7.44 while shaving a cent; Jamaica Stock Exchange lost 30 cents in trading 10,300 units at $1.80; National Commercial Bank traded only 4,700 units as the sellers were not prepared to sell lower by the end of trading at $19.40, a fall of 10 cents; Pan Jamaican Investment put in 5,637 shares at $48.05, down 95 cents and Supreme Ventures had only 2,000 units at $2.35 for a 2 cents decline.

JSEIndicesMar7Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index advanced by 2.24 points to close at 732.53 with 3 stocks advancing and 2 declining.

Gains | Stocks recording price gains in the junior market are Caribbean Cream in trading 98,080 units, up 6 cents and closing at 81 cents; Lasco Distributors traded 531,349 units to close 5 cents up at $1.40 and Lasco Manufacturing closed with a one cent increase at $1.21 while trading 13,610 shares.

Firm Trades | Five stocks traded with no price change. Blue Power exchanging 10,000 units at $9.01; Caribbean Producers 15,000 units at $2.70; Consolidated Bakeries 24,000 shares at $1.10; General Accident with 41,451 shares at $1.70 and Honey Bun 2,901 shares at $3.05.

Declines | Only 2 stocks closed down as Lasco Financial Services traded 131,490 units at $1.21 and lost a cent and Paramount Trading had 20,000 units trading at $2.92 for a 28 cents fall.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 6 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 2 stocks with offers lower.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , ,

TTSE: Low trading still dominant

March 7, 2014 by

Friday, 7th March 2014 | There was trading in 11 securities on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange of which 3 advanced, 3 declined and 5 traded firm and 58,970 shares changing hands valued at $1,283,833. The Composite Index fell by 1.30 points to close at 1,190.00, the All T&T Index declined by 1.56 points to close at 1,998.60 and the Cross Listed Index inched down 0.13 points to close at 50.09. National Flour mills and Unilever Caribbean traded at new 52 weeks high.

Gains | National Flour Mills traded 1,500 units and closed at $1.07, up 2 cents; Trinidad Cement with 13,050 shares changing hands for a value of $28,409 closed up 5 cents at $2.20 and Unilever Caribbean traded 200 units to close 15 cents higher at $57.15.

Declines | First Citizens Bank traded 3,112 shares for $117,291 as the price declined by a cent to close at $37.69; National Commercial Bank traded 1,500 units to close down 2 cents at $1.16; Scotiabank contributed 2,091 shares with a value of $150,602 as the price fell 50 cents to $72.

TTSEMar7Firm trades | Agostini’s traded a mere 15 units at $17.79; Clico Investment Fund posted a volume of 33,910 shares valued at $729,097 with the price remaining at $21.50; Guardian Holdings traded 1,093 units at $14.49; National Enterprises 666 units at $18.25 and Republic Bank added 1,833 shares valued at $215,400 to close at $117.52.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 4 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 4 stocks with offers lower.

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

New year, new dividends

March 7, 2014 by

IC Insider’s tracking of the latest announcements on dividends for the New Year to February 28th 2014.

Sagicor Group ups dividend and approved the payment of an interim dividend of 35 per share payable on March 31, 2014 to shareholders on record as at March 21, 2014. The ex-dividend date is March 19, 2014. The company paid a dividend of 21 cents per share on October 31, 2013 and brought dividends paid in 2013 to 40 cents per share with a dividend of 19 cents per share paid on March 28, 2013. In 2012 the company paid two dividends of 28 cents each.

Jamaica Broilers Group has declared an interim dividend of 8 cents per share payable on April 9, 2014 to shareholders on record as at March 13. The ex-dividend date is March 11. The 2013 dividend represents an increase of 33.33 percent on the amount paid in 2012. The company paid an interim dividend of 6 cents per share on March 28, last year and 8 cents per share on December 2.

Pan-Jamaican Investment Trust will pay its first interim dividend for the year 2014 of 60 cents per share on March 31, 2014 to shareholders on record as at March 17, 2014. The ex-dividend date is March 13, 2014. Dividends per share paid in 2013 amounts to 45 cents on September 20, $1.10 in March and 50 cents on December 20.

Scotia Investments approved an interim dividend of 45 cents per stock unit, payable on April 10, 2014, to stockholders on record as at March 20, 2014. The company pays four dividends per annum and have paid 45 cents each for the prior four quarters

Scotia Group approved an interim dividend of 4o cents per stock unit, payable on April 10, 2014, to stockholders on record as at March 20, 2014. The company pays four dividends per annum and have paid 40 cents each for the prior four quarters.

Supreme Ventures declared a dividend of 3 cents per share payable on March 26, 2014 to shareholders on record as at March 12, 2014. The stock traded ex-dividend on March 10, 2014. The company paid a dividend of 3 cents per share on January 8, 2014.  In 2013 dividends per share were paid as follows –  3 cents on September 2, 8 cents on June 17 and 10 cents on March 28.

Eppley Limited declared an ordinary interim dividend of $9 per share payable on February 28, 2014 to shareholders on record as at February 21, 2014. The ex-dividend date is February 19, 2014. This is the first dividend the company is paying on its ordinary shares since listing in 2013.

General Accident Insurance approved an ordinary dividend of 7.64 cents per stock unit payable on April 1, 2014, to shareholders on record as at March 6, 2014. The stock traded ex-dividend on March 3, 2014. General Accident Insurance paid an interim dividend of 8.728 cents per share on October 14, 2013 and also paid an interim dividend of 4.85 cents per share on March 28, 2013. In 2012 they made two payments of 4.85 cents each.

Dolphin ups dividend up 50% | Dolphin Cove has declared an interim dividend of $0.15 per share payable on April 9, 2014 to shareholders on record as at March 21, 2014. The ex-dividend date is March 19, 2014. Interim dividends were paid as follows by the company, 10 cents per share on December 4, 2013, 10 cents per share on September 16, 2013, 10 cents per share on June 6, 2013 and 10 in March 28 last year.

Gleaner Company declared an interim dividend of $0.04 per share payable on March 13, 2014 to shareholders on record as at February 27, 2013. The ex-dividend date is February 25, 2014.

PROVEN declared a dividend of US$0.0015 per ordinary share payable on March 13, 2014 to shareholders on record as at February 26, 2014. The ex-dividend date is February 24, 2014.

Carreras declared an interim dividend of $1.62 per share payable on March 13, 2014 to shareholders on record as at February 20, 2014. The ex-dividend date is February 18, 2014. This is the fourth regular dividend being paid for the year. An interim dividend of $1.30 per share and a special dividend of $0.94 per share were paid on June 20, 2013. Interim dividends of a dollar per share each were paid in August and November last year. A special capital cash distribution of $1.18 was also paid on January 30, 2014.

Cargo Handlers declared a dividend of 50 cents per share payable on March 6, 2014 to shareholders on record at February 18, 2014. The ex-dividend date is February 14, 2014. In 2013 ahead of the change in the tax rate on dividends from 5 percent to 15 percent the company paid a dividend of $1.00 per share on March 28, 2013.

AMG Packaging declared a dividend payment of 20 cents payable on March 28, 2014 to shareholders on record as at February 17, the Ex-dividend date is February 13. At the current stock price of $3.48 the yield is 5.7 percent. This is the first dividend the company has paid since listing in 2011.

The Board of Directors of Kingston Properties Limited has declared its first dividend for the year 2014 in the amount of US$0.0025 per stock unit payable on February 28, 2014 to stockholders on record as at February 10, 2014. The ex-dividend date is February 6, 2014.

Caribbean Producers (Jamaica) Limited | declared an interim dividend of 3 cents per stock unit payable on January 31, 2014 to shareholders on record as at January 16, 2014. The ex-dividend date is January 14, 2014. An interim dividend of 4.5 cents per stock unit was paid on March 28, 2013, previously an interim dividend of five cents per share paid on June 20, 2012.

Barita cuts dividend to 3 cents | Stung with a big drop in reported profits from $255 million in 2012 to only $70 million for the year ended September 2013, Barita Investments’ board approved the payment for an interim dividend of 3 cents per stock unit to be paid on January 27, 2014 to shareholders on record as at January 10, 2014.  The ex-dividend date is January 8, 2014. In January 2013 a dividend of 11.4 cents per share was paid.

Dividends delayed | Sagicor Group has moved the dividend consideration from February 28 to March 6th.

Not announced | The Board of Caribbean Flavours and Fragrances who had indicated that they will consider a dividend declaration at a meeting to be held on February 5, 2014 has not yet reported the decision to the Jamaica Stock exchange nor has Jamaica Broilers who should have met on February 26.

The Board of Directors of Grace Kennedy will consider a resolution for the declaration of an interim dividend at a meeting to be held on Friday, February 28, 2014. Grace last paid an interim dividend of $0.70 per share paid on December 11, 2013, an interim dividend of $0.78 per share paid on September 30, 2013 and an interim dividend of 70 cents per stock unit was paid on March 27, 2013.

Filed Under: Company News, Dividends Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2013 Remittance inflows top $2B

March 7, 2014 by

Total remittance inflows into Jamaica for 2013 hit a record of US$2.07 billion, US$23 million more than the amount received in 2012, which was the previous record year at US$2.043 billion according to data from the Bank of Jamaica. Net remittances for January to December 2013 were US$1.82 billion, an increase of US$49 million compared to 2012.

The out-turn for December reflected an increase in gross remittance inflows and a contraction in outflows with net remittances for the month reaching US$176 million, an increase of US$2.2 million over the similar period of 2012. Gross remittance inflows for the month were US$195 million, a decrease of US$1.7 million relative to December 2012.

Image courtesy of Boaz Yiftach/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Boaz Yiftach/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For the fourth quarter of 2013, net remittances were US$476 million, an increase of US$27 million or 6.0 per cent relative to the corresponding quarter of the previous year resulting from an increase in gross remittance inflows and a contraction in remittance outflows.

Total remittance inflows for the December quarter were US$533 million, representing an increase of US$16 million or 3.0 per cent relative to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Related posts | Remittance inflows continues up | October remittances up

Filed Under: Breaking News, Economy, Feature Stories Tagged With: , ,

Jamaica’s trade deficit improves

March 3, 2014 by

Jamaica’s trade deficit improvement experienced a recovery in the year to November 2013 as both imports, which fell by US$392 million and exports, down by US$112 million, resulted in the deficit falling by 6.2 percent or US$289 million when compared to the similar period in 2012.

Overall, imports for the 11 month period in 2013 was US$5,664 million, down from US$6,056 million for the same period in 2012 and exports of US$1,442 million, resulted in a trade deficit of US$4,221 million as reported by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN).

Imports | Freezone activity accounted for US$295 million in imports, compared to US$352 million in the corresponding 2012 period. The category of Mineral Fuels, which accounts for 35 percent of the country’s import bill, fell by US$229 million to US$1,984 million compared to the same period of 2012. Machinery and Transport Equipment fell by US$20 million to US$831 million. Chemicals imports was valued at US$741 million, a decrease of US$80 million. Manufactured Goods fell by US$41 million or 7.1 percent to US$544 million. Spending on Food, however, rose by US$12 million to US$888 million as a result of the sharp rise in the price of basic commodities.

Traditional Exports | For the period of January to November 2013, the country earned US$724 million from traditional domestic exports which fell by 2.9 percent or US$22 million versus 2012 period largely due to the decline in Manufacturing exports. Non-traditional domestic exports fell by US$104 million or 13.9 percent to US$643 million compared with the first eleven months of 2012.

Trade with USA improves | The value of imports from the United States of America, a major trading partner, fell by US$145 million or 7 percent to US$1,940 million to November 2013 compared to the similar period in 2012. Merchandise exports sold to the USA fell by US$19 million to US$711 million resulting in the trade deficit of US$1,229 million, down from US$1,355 million for the similar 2012 period, a decline of US$126.5 million.

Trade with CARICOM worsens | Goods imported by Jamaica from the CARICOM region from January to November 2013 grew by US$4.5 million to US$822 million, due largely to increased expenditure on “Food” which increased by US$13 million to US$151 million. Total exports fell by 20 percent or US$15 million to US$63 million.

Related posts | USA trade deficit worsens, Caricom improves | Big drop in trade deficit

Filed Under: Breaking News, Economy Tagged With: , , ,
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