Exports fell by 8.5% in April

Merchandise exports in April declined at its fastest pace in four months but imports continued to post robust growth, said to be supportive of domestic manufacturing and the country’s ambitious infrastructure program, the government reported yesterday.

Preliminary Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed that exports dropped 8.5 percent to $5.11 billion in April, reversing the 30.4-percent growth to some $5.59 billion a year ago.

Imports, meanwhile, grew for the ninth consecutive month, jumping 22.2 percent to $8.729 billion, faster than the 4-percent increase to $7.141 billion last year.

The biggest drags to exports in April were the following products: machinery and transport equipment (down 45 percent); gold (down 25.2 percent); ignition wiring set and other wiring sets used in vehicles, aircraft and ships (down 24.4 percent), and coconut oil (down 23.9 percent). Electronics equipment and parts exports were also down 1 percent.

The country’s top export commodity, electronic products,  posted an increase of 5.5 percent to $2.975 billion that month. This was, however, slower than the 23.2-percent increase to $2.82 billion in April last year.

In a statement, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said “seizing the benefits of existing free trade agreements and forging new ties are equally important to expand the market for exports” and arrest the weak performance so far this year.

“Enhancing trade relations with the country’s nontraditional partners would also contribute highly to the growth of the exports sector,” added Pernia, who heads state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

In April, Hong Kong, the United States, Japan, China and Singapore were the top five destinations of Philippine-made goods.

As for imports, miscellaneous manufactured articles grew 49.1 percent; plastics, up 41.5 percent; telecommunication equipment and electrical machinery, up 33.6 percent; transport equipment, up 31.4 percent; iron and steel, up 30.8 percent; other food and live animals, up 29.4 percent; mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, up 27.1 percent; chemicals, up 25.1 percent; industrial machinery and equipment, up 24.1 percent; and electronic products, up 15.2 percent,  the PSA data showed.

Neda noted increases in the inbound shipments of capital goods, raw materials and intermediate goods, consumer goods, and mineral fuels and lubricants.

The top sources of imported products were China, South Korea, Japan, the US and Thailand.

The total external trade in goods in April rose 8.8 percent to $13.844 billion from $12.728 billion a year ago.

The balance of trade in goods remained at a deficit of $3.615 billion, more than double the $1.554 billion in the same month last year.

Economic managers had said that as the Duterte administration embarked on its ambitious “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program alongside expectations of sustained economic growth, demand for imports of mostly capital goods would remain strong in the near term.

Last year, amid a surge in imports that resulted in a record-high trade-in-goods deficit of $29.8 billion, the current account deficit ballooned to $2.5 billion, the biggest since 1999.

Market concerns on the prevailing current account deficit weakened the peso to its almost 12-year low, as well as put pressure on the prices of basic goods, such that headline inflation peaked to over five-year highs at the start of the year.