MANILA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- China remained the Philippines' biggest supplier of imports with a 18.7-percent share of its total import value in November 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday.

The PSA said import bills to China registered an amount of 1.77 billion U.S. dollars, or an increase of 4.3 percent, from 1.69 billion U.S. dollars in November 2017.

The Philippines' total trade reached 15.04 billion U.S. dollars in November 2018, a 4.1-percent increase from 14.45 billion U.S. dollars recorded in November 2017, according to PSA.

Total imports rose to 9.47 billion U.S. dollars in November 2018, from 8.86 billion U.S. dollars in November 2017, or a growth rate of 6.8 percent.

Import bills from the top 10 countries and regions amounted to 7.06 billion U.S. dollars, or a share of 74.5 percent of the total imports, in November 2018.

The PSA said South Korea, which placed second, contributed 10.9 percent, or an import value of 1.03 billion U.S. dollars, in November 2018, an increase of 13.5 percent from the November 2017 value.

Japan ranked third with an import value of 903.28 million U.S. dollars in November 2018, or a share of 9.5 percent, the PSA said, adding that imports from Japan went down by 4.6 percent, from 946.39 million U.S. dollars in November 2017.

The United States placed fourth with a 6.6-percent share to the total import bills in November 2018.

The PSA also said total exports were valued at 5.57 billion U.S. dollars in November 2018, representing a decrease of 0.3 percent from 5.58 billion U.S. dollars in November 2017.

The Philippines' total exports receipt recorded by the country's top 10 market destinations for November 2018 reached 4.58 billion U.S. dollars, or 82.2 percent of the total exports.