Trade gap narrows to new 2-year low

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s trade deficit narrowed to a new two-year low of $500 million in April as steep declines were registered in both imports and exports during the month, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.

Total external trade in goods last April reached $6.07 billion, down by 59.8 percent from $15.10 billion in April 2019.

Exports fell by 50.8 percent year-on-year to $2.78 billion, while imports dropped by 65.3 percent year-on-year to $3.28 billion in April.

The country’s balance of trade in goods thus fell to a deficit of $499.20 million in April, an annual drop of 86.9 percent from the $3.8 billion gap in April 2019.

PSA said the contraction in export sales in April could be attributed to the severe declines in the outbound shipments of seven of the top 10 major export commodities led by other manufactured goods (-64.0 percent); machinery and transport equipment (-63.6 percent); and coconut oil (-55.5 percent).

Exports of electronic products, the country’s top shipment comprising 57.3 percent of the total exports in April, declined by 48.6 percent annually to $1.6 billion.

Among major trading partners, Hong Kong was the largest market for Philippine exports in April, absorbing 17.5 percent of outbound shipments.

The others were China, Japan, US and Singapore.

The decline in imports, on the other hand, was caused primarily by diminished inbound shipments of all of the top 10 major import commodities led by transport equipment (-89.8 percent); mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (-87.4 percent); and miscellaneous manufactured articles (-75.5 percent).

Because of the pandemic, imports of personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies grew quickly in April 2020 to $20.9 million, indicating an annual increase of 37.9 percent.

China was the country’s biggest supplier of imported goods in April, with a 22.3 percent share to total.

Other major suppliers to the country were Japan, Korea, US and Taiwan.