Philippine trade gap for February widens

April 11, 2018

The Philippine trade deficit in February widened to $3.06 billion from the same period in 2017 of $1.77 billion as exports declined for the first time in 15 months and imports rose, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Wednesday.

Exports declined by 1.8 percent from $4.74 in February 2017 to $4.66 billion in February 2018. This was brought about by increases posted by five  out of the top ten commodities for the month led by exports of metal components (91.1 percent), the PSA said.

Imports amounted to $7.72 billion, which grew by 18.6 percent from $6.51 billion posted during the same period of the previous year.

The increase was due to the growth of nine out of the top ten major imports.  These were: miscellaneous manufactured articles (84.3 percent); industrial machinery and equipment(75.1 percent); iron and steel (32.7 percent); cereals and cereal preparations (23.5 percent); transport equipment (20.1 percent), telecommunication equipment and electrical machinery (17.1 percent).

The United States was the top market for exports, with shipments valued at $705.20 million, contributing 15.1 percent share of total exports.

Japan placed second with $680.76 million or a share of 14.6 percent of  total exports.  Its share decreased by 6.5 percent from $728.35 million  in the same month of 2017.

Hong Kong, ranked third with an export value of $636.04 million and a share of 13.7 percent of total exports. Exports  went down by 9.3 percent from $701.46 million recorded in February 2017.

China was the biggest source of imports with 19.9 percent share.  Import payments to China stood at $1.54 billion, posting an increment of 57.7 percent from $977.17 million in February 2017.

Japan placed second, accounted for 10.4 percent and an import value of $804.61 million in February 2018.  It dropped by 6.5 percent from February 2017 value amounting to $860.65 million.

South Korea  ranked third, with imports valued at $765.66 million  contributing a share of 9.9 percent.  Imports from South Korea rose to 42.5 percent from $537.48 million in February 2017. DMS