Manila, April 30 -- The country's total external trade in goods went up by 9.6 percent to USD17.31 billion in March this year from USD15.80 billion a year ago, according to data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday.

The PSA data also showed that of the total trade during the month, 61.9 percent were imported goods while 38.1 percent were exported goods.

Total export sales reached USD6.59 billion, up by 5.9 percent from the USD6.23-billion total export sales in the same month of the previous year.

The PSA said electronic products continued to be the country's top exports in March with total earnings of USD3.64 billion. This was followed by manufactured goods with USD434.41 million and other mineral products...