Trade gap narrows to $3.88 billion in February

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s trade deficit narrowed in February, with exports posting a bigger drop than imports.

Preliminary data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) yesterday showed the balance of trade in goods, or the difference between exports and imports, amounted to a $3.88 billion deficit in February, lower than the $3.98 billion shortfall in the same month last year and $5.73 billion in January.

Exports of merchandise goods reached $5.08 billion, down by 18.1 percent from $6.20 billion in the same month last year.

The February exports are also lower than the $5.25 billion registered in January.

Posting the biggest annual decline in exports was the electronic products commodity group, which dropped to $2.68 billion this year from $3.44 billion in the same month last year.

This was followed by coconut oil; other mineral products; cathodes and sections of cathodes, of refined copper; and travel goods and handbags.

Japan had the biggest share of the country’s exports in February with $822.65 million or 16.2 percent of the total.

PSA data also showed the country’s imports decreased by 12.1 percent to $8.95 billion in February from $10.19 billion in the same month a year ago.

The February imports also declined from $10.99 billion in January.

Commodity groups with the biggest year-on-year drop in imports are electronic products; transport equipment; cereals and cereal preparations; iron and steel; and chemical materials and products.

China was the biggest supplier of the country’s imports valued at $1.93 billion or 21.6 percent of the total.

Total external trade in goods reached $14.03 billion, down from $16.39 billion in February last year and $16.24 billion in January 2023.

From January to February, the country’s exports were down by 15.6 percent to $10.33 billion this year from $12.25 billion in the same period last year.

Imports, meanwhile, posted a smaller drop of 3.9 percent to $19.94 billion in the first two months from $20.74 billion in the same period a year ago.

This brought the country’s trade deficit from January to February to $9.61 billion, wider than the $8.50 billion in the same period last year.