Philippines seen to triple Asian trade by 2030

MANILA  – Trade between the Philippines and 11 other Asian markets could triple by 2030, highlighting the potential of intra-regional trade, with the manufacturing sector seen driving the growth.

This is according to a study by global shipping and logistics firm United Parcel Service (UPS), which surveyed in January to February last year 198 businesses located in and with trade interests across the 12 Asian markets.

“For the Philippines, in particular, the country has an opportunity to build on rapid growth in the previous decade—particularly in the manufacturing sector—which could see trade with the Asia 12 more than triple from $113 billion in 2020 to $393 billion in 2030,” UPS said in a statement.

The 12 Asian markets covered by the research titled “UPS Intra-Asia Study” are Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

“There are also significant opportunities for Filipino businesses in areas such as digitalization, building supply chain resilience and multilateral cooperation in international trade,” it said further.

The UPS study also used data sourced from the International Trade Center, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs.

It noted that the local manufacturing segment was set to fuel the projected trade growth, with retail, industrial manufacturing and automotive, high-tech and healthcare as the main drivers.

“The [industrial manufacturing and automotive] segment stands to be the largest by value in 2030, more than [tripling] from 2020 levels as the country aims to serve as a global and regional hub for the automotive and electronics sectors,” UPS said.

“Meanwhile, trade in the high-tech segment, which constituted 41 percent of the country’s intra-Asia trade in 2020, could more than double in value, riding the wave of digitalization which will create significant demand in this segment across Asia,” the logistics company said further. INQ

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