Inflation, imports, largest car brands, Swiss chamber forum

I will discuss five economic and business issues here, so we go straight to the numbers.

1. Inflation in July 2026

Yesterday, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported inflation last month at 6.2 percent. So the January-July 2026 inflation average is now five percent, a lot higher than 1.7 percent in the same period last year, and also the highest in East Asia this year. We really need to improve our productivity especially in agriculture and food production while adapting to continued high global energy prices.

2. Merchandise imports

Last week the PSA also reported the country’s international merchandise trade statistics (IMTS) for June 2026. The January-June 2026 data are as follows: exports $46.7 billion, imports $77.5 billion, trade balance is -$30.8 billion.

Our merchandise imports in January-June each year: $63 billion in 2023, $61.5 billion in  2024, $65.8 billion in 2025 and $77.5 billion in 2026, a 17.8 percent increase over 2025.

The main country sources of our imports, their percent share to total in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 respectively are as follows:  (a) China 22.4, 25.4, 28.2, 29.7; (b) South Korea 6.8, 7.4, 7.3, 12.0; (c) Japan 8.3, 8.0, 8.2, 7.6; (d) Indonesia 9.5, 8.0, 7.9, 6.6; (e) US 6.7, 6.6, 5.9, 5.6; (f) Malaysia 4.6, 5.1, 4.2, 4.9; (g) Singapore 6.1, 4.8, 4.2, 4.5; (h) Thailand 5.9, 5.9, 5.7, 4.2.

So there is consistent increase in the share of China, from 22.4 to nearly 30 percent while there is consistent decrease in the share of the US, from 6.7 to only 5.6 percent.

The largest source of our imports from Europe is Germany with 1.5 percent share in 2026, and from South America is Brazil with 1.3 percent share.

3. Top five car brands in the Philippines

I checked the data from autoindustriya.com and topgear.com and the numbers are quite interesting. The largest car brands in the country in terms of units sold in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 January-June are as follows:

Toyota: 198,188; 215,756;227,595; 100,909. Mitsubishi: 78,371;89,124; 86,808; 36,321.

BYD: 537; 4,780; 26,122; 13,723 (January-April only). Suzuki: 18,454; 20,371; 21,984; 9,262.

Ford: 31,320; 27,997; 21,784; 7,359.

So Japan cars still dominate, BYD from China is rising fast and Ford from the US is declining or its market share is eroding. Tesla from the US has 2,424 units sold in 2025.

More cars from China are coming into the country, among them with their respective sales in 2025 are the following: MG 8,715; GAC 1,793; Jetour 1,791; Geely 1,612; Chery 1,568; Changan 1,052. Other brands with less than 1,000 units sold last year are BAIC, Omoda and Jaeco, Lynk&Co, Zeekr, Hongqi, Rox. Some of these are subsidiary brands of Geely, Jetour and Chery.

So the trend in car brands in the Philippines are consistent with our merchandise imports – China cars are rising while US cars (mainly Ford) are declining.

Among trucks, Japan brands are still highly visible like Isuzu, Fuso and Hino. But China brands are rising. AI observed this: “Sinotruk/Howo has captured roughly 60 percent of the heavy truck market in the Philippines over recent years.” Other China trucks that are visible in our roads are Shacman, Foton, Dongfeng, FAW. Almost no US trucks (cargo type) here.

Among buses, the most visible in our roads are Yutong, Higer, Golden Dragon, King Long from China; Hino and Fuso from Japan; Hyundai and Daewoo from South Korea; Volvo and MAN from Europe; nothing from the US.

4. Swiss Chamber forum

Last Tuesday, Aug. 4, I attended the forum, “Swiss Perspectives: Building Business in the Philippines” organized by the Swiss Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and held at Partners Group in Neo Seven, BGC.

The speakers were Switzerland Ambassador to the Philippines Nicolas Bruhl, Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo, SwissCham chairman Felix Fiechter, Zuellig Group co-managing director David Zuellig, Amihan Solutions CEO Patric Lenggacher and Dashlabs.ai co-founder Bryan Giger. The closing remarks were made by Simon Casutt of Partners Group, and the moderator was Manila Polo Club general manager Rosario Cajucom-Bradbury.

It was another educational forum by SwissCham. Mr. Fiechter is a witty speaker with more than three decades business experience in the country, Ambassador Bruhl is nostalgic about his three-years work here, Usec Rodolfo recalled his first assignment at DTI as working on economic partnership with Switzerland, Mr. Zuellig is proud of his company’s century-plus business in the Philippines.

Among the audience I saw was Cito Beltran, a columnist of The STAR and my favorite TV host when he was hosting the daily program Agenda in One News at Cignal TV. Cito remains a very articulate and reflective speaker as shown when he asked a series of questions during the open forum.

5. AEV growth momentum

I saw a press release by Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV), they have a great report, a consolidated net income of P13.6 billion for the first six months of 2026 which is 63 percent higher than in the same period last year, and P10 billion of this is from Aboitiz Power (AP) alone.

I like AP’s entry into LNG power generation through Chromite Gas Holdings Inc. in partnership with Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGEN). Chromite Gas plus SMC partnership formed LNGPH, the country’s largest LNG facilities with two big LNG power plants (EERI and SPPC/Ilijan) in Batangas and a regassification facility.

AP’s ownership of the 797-MW Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) Hydroelectric Power Plant Complex is cool. Not only for helping stabilize the grid but also for the P36.3 billion privatization money for PSALM and the DOF, a big non-tax revenue for DOF. Formal turnover from PSALM to AP-led Thunder Consortium was held last Feb. 9, led by President Marcos, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin and Aboitiz Group president and CEO Sabin Aboitiz.