CUSTOMS commissioner Angelito Alvarez has brushed aside negative effects of the Japan earthquake and tsunami on Philippine trade, saying the agency is even set to surpass its March collection target.
Customs commissioner Angelito Alvarez told PortCalls the country’s imports remain generally strong and will continue to be so in the coming months.
He admitted there were delays experienced a few days after the March 11 disasters but that Japan shipments “will stabilize sooner than later”.
“So far the negative effects of the Japan quake and tsunami have yet to be experienced at the BOC,” Alvarez said at the sidelines of last week’s induction ceremonies for new Global Cargo Council, Inc officers.
“As of Tuesday last week (March 29), we were only P30 million short of our collection target of P22.5 billion. We are likely to surpass our monthly goal when revenues for the last two days of the month are taken into account,” Alvarez said.
He noted that the agency’s average daily collection for March is P700 million. Assuming the same daily intake for March 30 and 31, the bureau would register a surplus of P1.1 billion.
“This only shows that we have yet to experience any trade disruptions brought about by the Japan disasters and we anticipate that it will stay the same and recovery will be sooner than later,” Alvarez added.
Japan is consistently one of the country’s top three export and import markets.
In January, Japan was the country’s third biggest export market representing 14.1% of the total. For the same month, it accounted for 10.5% of the aggregate import bill.
Supply chain stakeholders, particularly automotive makers, all over the world are worried over disruptions in the supply chain because manufacturing plants in Japan have yet to fully commence operations due to continued shortage in power supply.
Radiation worries over the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power have also forced a number of international carriers to cancel ship calls to ports near the Fukushima prefecture.
