THE value of goods traded domestically rose during the first quarter, despite a drop in total volume, which may reflect robust sales in higher-value products.

Preliminary results of domestic commodity flows for the first quarter showed that while the volume of domestic trade transactions decreased by 18.9 percent, the value of domestic trade flows increased 1.2 percent to P84.86 billion from P83.86 billion in the first quarter of 2008, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The NSO defines domestic trade as the flow of commodities through the water, air and rail transport systems in the country.”

The agency said data on domestic trade “serve as bases in the formulation and implementation of various regional development programs like countryside development and port planning.”

The National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) told the BusinesMirror the numbers on domestic trade are important only because they show consumption patterns.

Program director Victor Abola of the University of Asia and the Pacific’s Strategic Business Economics Program, on the other hand, said the value of domestic trade is important more than the tonnage.

“But it’s not a strong indicator of growth,” Abola said in a phone interview Tuesday over first-quarter GDP figures, adding that unless the Philippines is an industrialized country, the data will reflect a close relationship between tonnage and value.

According to the NSO, among the commodities that changed hands in the first quarter of 2009, food and live animals contributed the largest value amounting to P27.70 billion or 32.6 percent of total domestic trade, reflecting the economy’s agriculture base.

In the first quarter of last year, only 4.14 million tons of goods were traded while it was 3.36 million tons for the first quarter of 2009.

Shipments made using water transportation were 99.7 percent of total trade in the first quarter of 2008 and 99.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

Most of the commodities that traded in the first quarter of 2009 came from the National Capital Region (NCR), valued at P26.64 billion, or 31.4 percent of domestic trade. NCR also had the highest value of domestic trade of P18.85 billion, or 22.5 percent of the total trade during the first quarter of 2008.

Northern Mindanao posted the second highest in terms of value at P15.91 billion, or 19 percent of the total, followed by Central Luzon with P12.73 billion (15.2 percent of the total), and Western Visayas P11.63 billion (13.9 percent).

Cagayan Valley was the region with the least contribution in terms of domestic trade at P340,000.

The NSCB and NSO estimated domestic trade for Metro Manila would grow 4.85 percent, Northern Mindanao 5.56 percent and Western Visayas 4.45 percent.