Exports weaken anew in February; trade gap widens

MANILA, Philippines — Exports continued to weaken in February as sales of five of the country’s top export products declined, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.

Out of the total external trade, $5.18 billion (39.4 percent) were exported goods and $7.97 billion (60.6 percent) were imported goods.

Exports contracted by 0.9 percent last February from $5.23 billion in the same period in February 2018.

This, however, was the slowest decline in four months following a slowdown of one percent in November 2018, and contractions of 12.2 percent in December 2018 and 6.7 percent in January.

Diminished demand for metal components, gold, machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, and ignition wiring sets contributed to the extended decline in outbound shipments.

Imports, meanwhile, registered a 2.6 percent growth in February 2019 from $7.76 million in the same month last year.

This was attributed to continued growth in imports of raw materials and intermediate goods as well as capital goods. Inbound shipments of consumer goods declined during the period.

This brought the country’s trade deficit to increase year-on-year to $2.79 billion in February 2019 from $2.54 billion in February 2018.

This trade gap, however, was significantly narrower than the $3.76 billion deficit recorded in January 2019 when imports reached $9.03 billion and exports reached $5.28 billion.

In terms of destination, the US, Japan and China were the country’s top export destinations as of February 2019, while China, Japan and Korea  were the top sources of imports.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the government is improving relations with trading partners to “weather headwinds in the global export market.”

“In its effort to strengthen bilateral economic relations, the Department of Trade and Industry recently concluded dialogues with the UK, Hungary and Czech Republic,” said NEDA officer-in-charge Adoracion Navarro.

The Philippines, she said, also signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia to open up the Indonesian market to Philippine agricultural produce, particularly bananas and coconut-based products.

More Philippine agricultural products can be sold in Eastern Europe following the export promotion mission conducted by the Department of Agriculture and private sector representatives in Belarus, Navarro said.

“For the recovery in exports performance, facilitating easier movement of goods is crucial,” she said.

Navarro said efforts are also underway to optimize the use of the country’s major ports in Batangas and Subic.

Customs processes are also being streamlined to facilitate the movement of goods, she said.