Cayman’s 2017 imports highest for ten years

George Town dock, Grand Cayman

(CNS): The increase in the price of oil and the volume imported was behind a surge in the value of imports to Cayman last year of more than $23 million. But in a sign of improving economic fortunes for some residents, people living in Cayman also purchased a lot more goods. Figures from the Economics and Statistics Office in the Foreign Trade Statistics Report 2017 showed that the total value of goods imported into the islands increased by 2.7%, reaching $876 million, compared to $852.6 million in 2016. The value of imports was also the highest it has been for a decade.

Meanwhile, the volume of exports, which is already very small, fell by almost 35% to just $27.7 million, compared to the $42.5 million recorded in 2016. This led to a visible trade deficit increase of $37.8 million, moving from a deficit of $810.2 million in 2016 to $848.3 million.

Although the acquisition of goods by local consumers last year contributed to the growth in imports, this was largely driven by petroleum products, which amounted to $109 million, close to 16% more than the value in 2016. The increase in international oil prices was partly behind this figure but Cayman also imported more petroleum-based products by volume last year that it did in 2016.

Non-petroleum products increased by $7.5 million, or 1%, with miscellaneous manufactured articles leading the growth, increasing by $11.7 million, or 10%.

Certain imports paint an interesting picture of trends in Cayman. Last year residents imported a significant amount of antiques, with this category growing by almost 272%. But reflections in changing technologies saw a decline in the import of DVDs and CDs as well as reading materials, both explained by the widespread ownership in Cayman of smart phones and tablets.

Surprisingly however, one import that appears to buck modern trends was tobacco, which increased by 15.4% to $5 million in 2017, with cigarettes increasing by more than 16% and cigar imports also growing by well over 12%. Also of concern for our environment was a more than 29% increase in the importation of plastics.

The United States continues to be Cayman’s largest trading partner, accounting for 83.5% of imports, a fall of just 1% on 2016, due to a fall in import of gold.

See the full report in the CNS Library