BOC revenues up 27% to P33 B in September

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) missed its collection target for September despite posting record revenues of P32.87 billion for the month.

In a statement, the BOC said the latest figure marked a 27.2 percent increase from the September 2013 level. However, it was 4.9 percent below the agency’s target of P34.56 billion.

For the first nine months of the year, total BOC collections also climbed 18 percent to P265.79 billion.

The BOC attributed the growth in collections to an enhanced system for the valuation of goods, which yielded an 18.23 percent hike in the customs value for imported products and a 19 percent jump in the collection of duties and taxes.

For September alone, volume of imports grew 15.7 percent driven by the growth in imports of petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel products as well as electrical machineries and equipment, which account for about 72 percent of total customs revenue.

Valuation of imported goods also improved, offsetting a decline in the prices of petroleum products.

Reports from the Department of Energy showed that Dubai crude decreased by $6.10 per barrel in September while imported diesel and gasoline fell by $7.10 and $3 per barrel, respectively.

On the average, every P1 movement in the exchange rate of the dollar against the peso has an estimated P2.7 billion impact on the Bureau’s revenue collection.

September’s milestone  is also supported by a growth in imports of motor vehicles which grew 31 percent as well as record sales of cars and trucks, which jumped 41.72 percent.

The Bureau’s total revenues for the third quarter amounted to P92.39 billion or 15 percent more than the previous year.

At the Port level, revenue collections by the agency’s  17 collection districts  went up by 18.23 percent from January to September this year with the  ports of Batangas, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao, Subic and Aparri exceeding their collection target for the period.

For this month, the BOC has a collection goal of P36.81 billion.