The Philippines’ merchandise trade in December 2018 decreased 10.5% to US$13.19 billion from $14.74 billion in the same period in 2017 as both imports and exports recorded declines in value.
Imports slid 9.4% to $8.47 billion in December 2018 from $9.36 billion in December 2017, triggered by the negative growth of six of the top 10 major import commodities, according to latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority. This is the first month that the value of imports dropped after continuously recording increases since the start of 2018 until November last year.
Major import commodities with negative growth in December were transport equipment (-33.3%); miscellaneous manufactured articles (-18.4%); mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (-14.4%); telecommunication equipment and electrical machinery (-5.5%); other food and live animals (-3.5%); and electronic products (-1.6%).
Electronic products remained the country’s top import with 26.3% of the total import bill, followed by mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials at 13.4% and transport equipment at 10.5%.
Exports reached $4.72 billion last December, a reduction of 12.3% from $5.38 billion in December 2017 as export sales of four of the top 10 commodities declined. These were machinery and transport equipment (-53.1%); coconut oil (-24.8%); electronic products (-15.2%); and other manufactured goods (-9.0%). The December 2018 drop in export sales was the second month in a row.
Electronic products continued to be the country’s top export, comprising 57.2% of the total export revenue in December 2018. This was followed by other manufactured goods at 6% and fresh bananas at 3.4%.
The country’s balance of trade in goods, meanwhile, decreased to a $3.75 billion deficit in December 2018, from $3.97 billion deficit in December 2017. This was the smallest trade gap since September 2018 and after the record-high $4.08 billion gap in October 2018.
China remained the country’s top import source, followed by Japan and South Korea. The United States, meanwhile, was the top export destination, followed by Japan and Hong Kong.
