Domestic trade weakened in Q2, says PSA

The quantity and value of goods traded across the Philippines in the second quarter both shrank, respectively by 23.9 percent and 17.9 percent, as the initial surge from economic reopening in 2021 dissipated.

Preliminary data at the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) show that the volume of domestic shipments fell to 3.9 million tons from 5 million tons in the same quarter of 2021.

Also, the value of goods traded within the country dropped to P190 billion from P231.5 billion in the same three months of last year.

Data on the flow of commodities between the country’s regions are used as a basis in the formulation and implementation of various regional development programs like countryside development and port planning.

Compared to domestic trade in the first quarter, second-quarter figures meant that the yearly decrease in quantity worsened from 21.6 percent while the value turned downward from a growth of 6.7 percent at P175 million.

Further, the second quarter represented an improvement in terms of value from P175 million but at the same time a continued decrease in volume from 4.47 million tons.

From April to June this year, when the growth of total domestic output or (GDP) registered at 7.4 percent, almost all or 99.9 percent of the volume as well as the quantity of goods was moved by water transport.

Of all goods traded in the second quarter, food and live animals contributed the largest volume at 910,000 tons or 24 percent of total. INQ