Phl-EU trade back to pre-crisis level

MANILA, Philippines - Trade between the European Union and the Philippines has stabilized at its pre-crisis level of € 9.1 billion in 2011 with the EU remaining as the largest partner in terms of foreign direct investments.

European Union Ambassador Guy Ledoux made this announcement yesterday following the release of the EU-Philippines Trade Factfile of 2011.

Philippine exports of IT products to the EU declined (by 10 percent) but its exports of agricultural products increased by 13 percentto € 841 million.

EU exports to the Philippines increased by six percent in 2011.

EU trade with other ASEAN members has grown significantly, up 26 percent increase with some partners.

While electronics account for the bulk of the Philippine exports to the EU, other manufactures and notably agricultural trade have been growing in importance, specifically, exports in coconut oil, fruits and fishery products.

EU-Philippines trade in services expanded in 2011 by seven percent to € 2.3 billion in 2010, with exports and imports roughly in balance and a potential for further growth.

In terms of foreign direct investments, the EU remains the largest investment partner of the Philippines with its total stock of investments rising further 16 percent to nearly € 8 billion (latest figures of 2010) – or about 30 percent of total FDI stock in the Philippines.

Moreover, EU FDI flows into the Philippines quadrupled to € 430 million in 2010, but there is substantial room for further boosting investment relations, as the Philippines has received only four percent of the € 193 billion stock of EU direct investments in the ASEAN region as of 2010.

The EU was also the fifth largest host of land-based migrant Filipinos in 2010 and is one of the largest employer of Filipino seafarers. Filipino migrants living and working in the EU as well as Filipino seafarers manning European ships, together sent $2.8 billion (€ 2 billion) to the Philippines in 2011, keeping the EU as the second largest source of remittances to the Philippines.

The EU remained the 5th largest source of tourists to the Philippines in 2011, (after South Korea, USA, Japan, ASEAN) with the number of EU tourists reaching a record 318,000 and an increase of +seven percent over 2010.