Philippine foreign trade drops 15% as COVID-19 hits global economy

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine foreign trade slipped 15 percent last year as the pandemic prompted restrictions across countries that weakened the overall global economy.

Based on the updated foreign trade performance released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), merchandise trade sank by 15 percent to $155 billion for the whole of 2020.

Imports plummeted 19.5 percent to an 11-year low of $89.8 billion while exports dipped 8.1 percent to a 10-year low of $65.2 billion. Of the total external trade, nearly 60 percent were imported goods and the rest were exported commodities.

With this, the trade deficit declined at a faster pace of 40 percent, at $24.6 billion from $40.67 billion the previous year.

The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted foreign trade, especially at the beginning of lockdown measures imposed in almost all countries.

The global economy also recovered at a slower pace toward the end of last year following the spikes in new cases, leading to renewed mobility curbs.

In the Philippines, weak exports to major markets as well as the consecutive natural calamities in the fourth quarter resulted in the poor merchandise trade.

Last year, eight of the 10 major commodity groups for exports registered declines. Still, electronic products remained the country’s top dollar earner at $37.95 billion.

By major trading partner, exports to Japan accounted for the highest value at $10.03 billion, or about 15 percent of the total. Other major partners include the US, China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

In terms of imports, all commodity groups fell, with the fastest decline in transport equipment, mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, and industrial machinery and equipment.

China was the country’s biggest supplier of imported goods valued at $20.87 billion, accounting for 23.2 percent of the total. Major sources include Japan, the US, South Korea and Indonesia.

The country’s overall external trade is slowly picking up due largely to the low base from last year.

Imports from January to June rose by nearly 30 percent to $53.3 billion while exports jumped by 21 percent to $35.9 billion.

However, the country’s trade shortfall widened by 53 percent to $17.4 billion from $11.4 billion in the same period last year as imports continued to outpace exports.