Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 10) — The country’s trade gap narrowed to its lowest level in over five years this April, as exports and imports plunged due to the coronavirus crisis affecting supply chains and global trade.
Data released on Wednesday by the Philippine Statistics Authority showed exported goods totaled $2.78 billion, a 50.8 percent drop from the $5.65 billion posted in April 2019. This is the worst year-on-year decline in exports recorded since January 2000, said the agency.
Meanwhile, imports hit $3.28 billion this April, a 65.3 percent drop from the $9.45 million recorded last year. The plunge was the biggest annual decrease recorded since the same month 11 years ago.
These record-low contractions brought the trade gap to $500 million, which is 86.9 percent lower than in April last year.
The country’s total external trade in goods in April 2020 amounted to USD 6.07 billion. It reflected a faster 59.8 percent decline than the previous month’s annual drop of 25.6 percent, the PSA said.
Other manufactured goods posted the worst decline in April exports, dropping by 64 percent from last year. Machinery and transport equipment trailed closely at 63.6 percent, while coconut oil fell by 55.5 percent.
All major commodity groups performed weakly in April, except for petroleum products, cathodes of refined copper, and pineapple and products derived from it.
Hong Kong emerged as the country’s top export market, getting $582.07 million of the total export sales during the month. It was followed by China at $385.28 million, Japan at $363.40 million, the United States at $316.54 million, and Singapore at $219.73 million.
Transport equipment led the downtrend in imports, registering a 89.8 percent decline
It is followed by mineral fuels, lubricants, and related materials, which shrank by 87.4 percent, and miscellaneous manufactured articles, which posted a 75.5 percent drop from last year.
All other import commodity groups also posted negative annual growth rates this April.
Similar to March, China remained the country’s biggest supplier of imports, providing $732.47 million of the total imported goods during the month. Japan came in second with $357.55 million, followed by Korea at $299.54 million, and the United States at $286.13 million.
However, Taiwan took Indonesia’s place as the fifth major import trading partner of the Philippines in April at $269.85 million.
