By means of Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Reporter
The Philippines’ Trade Gap In August, growth widened year on year as import growth still outpaced export growth, even as the value of outbound shipments was the highest in 11 months, the government said on Thursday.
Preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority shows that the balance of the country’s trade in goods – the diFThe deficit between exports and imports stood at a deficit of $4.375 billion in August, 6.6% larger than the gap of $4.105 billion in the same month last year.
However, month over month, the trade gap shrank by 10.25% from July’s $4.88 billion deficit.
So far the trade is theFICIT fell 4.35% to $34.3 billion from the $35.86 billion gap a year ago.
The country’s trade balance in goods is in a downgradeFThis has been the case for 111 consecutive months (over nine years) or since the $64.95 million surplus in May 2015.
Total foreign trade in goods reached $17.87 billion in August, up 1.8% year-on-year. Of the total, 62.2% consisted of imported goods, while the remaining 37.8% consisted of exports.
In August, export sales rose 0.3% to $6.75 billion, compared to $6.73 billion in the same month in 2023, a second consecutive month of increase.
This was the largest export value in eleven months or since $6.77 billion in September last year.
Month on month, exports increased by 7.97%.
In the FIn the first eight months of the year, exports grew by 2.27% year-on-year to $49.41 billion.
Miguel Chanco, Pantheon’s chief emerging Asia economist, said in an email that the recovery in exports since July has been “mainly driven by a recovery in demand from non-traditional markets and, to a lesser extent, the recovery in exports to both the US and Japan. .”
“In contrast, exports to China and Hong Kong have largely remained unchanged Fbar in comparison.”
Meanwhile, the value of imported goods rose 2.7% to $11.12 billion in August, up from $10.83 billion a year earlier. Month on month, imports fell by 0.02%.
Year to date, imports fell 0.55% annually to $83.7 billion.
Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., attributed the year-on-year increase in imports in August to the appreciation of the peso against the dollar.
“The faster growth of imports compared to exports can be partly attributed to the stronger peso exchange rate that made imports cheaper from the perspective of locals, thereby increasing demand,” he said in a Viber message.
The stronger peso also made Philippine exports more expensive for international buyers, leading to a broader deFicit, added Mr Ricafort.
The peso closed at P56,111 against the dollar at the end of August, up by P2,254 from P58,365 at the end of August.
The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) expects growth of 3% and 4% in exports and imports respectively this year.
MAIN EXPORTS DECREASE
Manufactured goods, which accounted for 81.2% of the country’s export revenues, fell 0.6% to $5.48 billion in August, compared with $5.51 billion a year ago.
Electronic products, which make up the bulk of industrial exports, fell 8.2% year on year to $3.57 billion in August.
Semiconductor exports also fell 13.8% to $2.69 billion in August. Exports of mineral products fell by 13.4% to $582.36 million.
The United States remained the top destination for Philippine goods in August with exports worth $1.22 billion, accounting for 18.1% of the total.
This was followed by Hong Kong with $942.56 million (14% of the total), Japan ($935.33 million or 13.9%), China ($849.38 million or 12.6%) and South Korea ($332 .64 million or 4.9%). Other important export markets are the Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, Germany and Thailand.
IMPORT
Meanwhile, imports of raw materials and intermediate products grew 5.2% year-on-year to $4.06 billion in August. This constituted 36.5% of total imports.
Imported capital goods rose 9.6% annually to $3 billion, while imports of consumer goods remained stable at $2.24 billion.
Imports of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials fell 9.1% to $1.79 billion in August.
“Real import demand is still wavering, with purchases of consumer goods stagnant at best, while demand for imported capital goods remains low,” Mr Chanco said.
China was the largest source of imports, worth $2.79 billion, accounting for a quarter of the total import bill in August.
It was followed by Indonesia ($972.4 million or 8.7% of the total), South Korea ($925.36 million or 8.3%), Japan ($827.11 million or 7.4%) and the United States ($707.33 million or 6.4%).