Trade deficit widens 52% in November 2017

MANILA, Philippines — The trade deficit widened to 51.8 percent in November due to heavier imports of raw materials, intermediate goods and capital goods, as export growth slowed to its lowest in a year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.

Exports grew just 1.6 percent to $4.96 billion in November 2017 from $4.89 billion in the same month the previous year, the slowest growth since November 2016 largely because of a steep decrease in outbound shipments of machinery and transport equipment.

Imports, meanwhile, rose 18.5 percent to $8.74 billion in November 2017 from $7.38 billion in November 2016. This resulted in a trade deficit of $3.78 billion in November 2017, higher than the $2.49 billion gap in November 2016.

Imports of raw material and intermediate goods valued at $3.31 billion in November 2017 accounted for 37.9 percent of inbound shipments while imports of capital goods valued at $2.88 billion comprised 32.9 percent of total imports during the reference period.

For exports, electronic products remained the top export item in November with sales of $2.88 billion, comprising 58.1 percent of the total exports revenue during the month.

Hong Kong was the top destination for outbound shipments, followed by Japan, US, China, Singapore, Thailand, Germany, Netherlands, Taiwan and Korea.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said they are looking into expanding export markets in ASEAN and the EU as well as in East Asia.

“Exports to ASEAN and EU look promising. Gathering of market intelligence, such as market profiles and emerging in-demand exports, as well as information dissemination to exporters should be further strengthened to boost trade, especially exports to East Asia,” he said.

He urged exporters to tap the Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Assistant Network, which provides exporters access to relevant information,  as well as Tradeline Philippines, an online database service that contains product and market profiles.

China, meanwhile, remains as the top source of imports in November, followed by Japan, Korea, Thailand, US, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.