Philippines July trade balance still in deficit; narrower on-year at $4.20B

The Philippines’ balance of trade with the rest of the world still showed a wide deficit in July, with exports still lagging the value of products bought by the country to sustain the economy.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority also show an 11 percent decline in the country’s total trade in goods to $16.49 billion in July, with imports accounting for nearly 63 percent of total.

The value of imported goods in July declined 15 percent year-on-year to $10.35 while exports during the month was down 1.2 percent to $6.14 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $4.20 billion.

The trade deficit in July last year was wider at $5.99 billion while in June this year it was narrower at $3.94 billion.

Exports between January and July total $41.09 billion, down 8.2 percent. Electronics remain the country’s main export product followed by other manufactured goods and other mineral products, while the U.S., Japan and China are the main trading partners.

The five commodity groups with the highest rate of annual decline are coconut oil, other mineral products, other manufactured goods, chemical and miscellaneous manufactured articles.

The value of imports in the first seven months of the year reached $73.27 billion, down 9.1 percent year-on-year. 

In July alone, imported goods that showed the decreases in value were mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, electronic products—many of which are used for exports, and iron and steel.