PSA: Philippine trade gap narrowed to $4.69B in November 2023

The Philippine trade gap narrowed in November as imports posted slight growth while exports continued to decline, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Wednesday.

The balance of trade in goods (BoT-G) — the difference between the value of exports and imports — posted a $4.693-billion deficit in November 2023, lower than the $5.364 billion in October, but 26.3% higher than the $3.717 billion in the same month in the previous year.

A deficit indicates that the value of a country’s imports exceeded export receipts, while a surplus indicates more export shipments than imports.

Exports for the month stood at $6.126 billion, lower than the $6.364 billion in October and 13.7% down from the $7.100 billion in November 2022.

The biggest decline in exports was seen in electronic products which fell by $1.125 billion to $3.439 billion, followed by coconut oil by $26.76 million to $71.82 million, gold by $18.61 million to $66.39 million, unmanufactured tobacco by $16.47 million to $5.55 million, and electronic equipment and parts by $16.45 million to $86.46 million.

Manufactured goods contributed $4.99 billion to the total exports for the month, backed by mineral products with $596.56 million, and total agro-based products with $379.71 million.

The United States was the main export partner for the month, accounting for $970.22 million or 15.8%. It was followed by Japan with $946.66 million, China with $821.53 million, Hong Kong with $921.54 million, and South Korea with $326.48 million.

Imports

Meanwhile, imports increased by 0.02% to $10.820 billion from $10.817 billion the same month of the previous year, and up from $10.758 billion in October 2023.

The biggest increase was seen in the import of transport equipment which grew by $340.72 million to $1.167 billion, followed by metalliferous ores and metal scrap by $146.03 million to $274 million, miscellaneous manufactured articles by $108.84 million to $462.26 million, medicinal and pharmaceutical products by $42.16 million to $200.39 million, and iron and steel by $34.20 million to $416.03 million.

The highest imported commodity in terms of value was electronic products with $2.21 billion or 20.4% of the total. This was followed by mineral fuels, lubricants, and related materials at $1.56 billion, and transport equipment at $1.17 billion.

In terms of major types of goods, raw materials had the highest share of imports for the month with $3.92 billion. Imports of capital goods stood at $3.03 billion or 28.0%, while consumer goods stood at $2.27 billion or 21.0%.

China was the main source of imports with $2.72 billion or 25.1%, followed by Indonesia with $1.01 billion, Japan with $892.17 million, South Korea with $714.24 million, and the United States with $654.52 million.

The latest figures brought the country’s total trade for the month to $16.946 billion, 5.4% lower than the $17.917 billion in November 2022, and down from $17.123 billion in October. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News