Trade deficit narrows to $4.3 billion in June

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines posted a trade deficit of $4.30 billion in June, the smallest gap in three months as both exports and imports declined from a year ago.

Preliminary data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) yesterday showed the balance of trade in goods or the difference between the value of exports and imports amounted to a $4.30 billion deficit in June, 9.3 percent wider than the $3.94 billion gap in the same month in 2023.

The June trade gap is the narrowest since the $3.35 billion deficit last March.

In the January to June period, the country’s trade deficit was at $25 billion, narrower than the $27.63 billion in the same period in 2023.

PSA data also showed that the country’s merchandise exports fell by 17.3 percent to $5.57 billion in June from $6.73 billion in the same month last year.

Electronic products, the country’s top exports, dropped by 24.4 percent to $2.99 billion in June from $3.96 billion in the same month a year ago.

“The decline in exports may be due to low production given high domestic demand, reducing output dedicated for exports,” Philippine Institute for Development Studies senior research fellow John Paolo Rivera said in an email yesterday.

By major trading partner, the US was the top destination of Philippine exports in June, with its share at $897.80 million or 16 percent of the total.

In the first semester, exports went up by three percent to $36.41 billion from $35.34 billion in the same period a year ago.

Goods imported by the country in June dipped by 7.5 percent to $9.87 billion from $10.67 billion in the same month last year.

Transport equipment registered the biggest drop in imports value in June, down by $445.67 million.

China remained as the country’s biggest source of imported goods in June accounting for $2.60 billion or 26.3 percent of the total.

Philippine imports in the January to June period declined by 2.5 percent to $61.41 billion from $62.96 billion in the previous year.

Total external trade in goods of the country amounted to $15.44 billion in June, down by 11.3 percent from $17.40 billion in the same month last year.

For the January to June period, total trade amounted to $97.81 billion, lower than the $98.30 billion in the same period last year.

“Trade in the coming months may be affected by the recent conflict in the Middle East, but may be offset by growing trade within the region brought about by ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership),” Rivera said.