The Bureau of Customs revenue collections from petroleum products rose in November last year due to a surge in imports of diesel and gasoline, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
Based on a report submitted to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, the Customs bureau raised P12.83 billion from excise tax on petroleum products in November, up by more than half from P8.33 billion in the same month in 2019.
According to Customs, the increase in revenues was driven mainly by the corresponding spike in excise tax collections from finished fuel products.
During the month, excise taxes collected from fuel imports reached P8.97 billion, an increase of 88.7 percent compared with P4.76 billion in the previous year.
In terms of volume, fuel imports jumped by 32 percent to 1.1 billion kilograms (kg) from 829.4 million kg a year ago.
Meanwhile, raw crude oil importation was only 381.8 million kg during the month, which is a 52 percent lower compared with 792.7 million kg in 2019.
To recall, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. shut down its refinery in Batangas last August and announced it will convert the site into an import terminal.
Oil refiners in Asia, North America and Europe have also permanently shut down their facilities following the decline in global fuel demand by 30 percent amid the global economic slump resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In November, the volume of diesel imports amounted to 698.8 million kg, up by 60 percent from the 436.9 million kg imported during the same period last year.
The volume of gasoline imports also increased by 55.7 percent to 259.2 million kg during the same period, up from 166.4 million kg last year, BOC data show.
Imports of kerosene and other oil products grew 354.4 percent from 1.28 million kg in the month of November 2019 to 5.8 million kg during the same period this year.
Expectedly, jet fuel imports decreased 71 percent to 14.6 million kg in November from 50.2 million kg last year, in light of the pandemic-related international travel restrictions.
In the first 11-months of 2020, Customs total collections reached P493.32 billion, already above by 6.6 percent against its revised target of P462.78 billion set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).
Revenue growth from fuel imports at end-November showed a 1.6 percent increase—P133.4 billion from P131.4 billion collected in the same period in 2019.
The increase in excise tax collections by 25.8 percent from P72.9 billion last year to P91.7 billion accounted for the growth in revenues despite the drop in the volume of fuel imports from 12.7 million kg in 2019 to 11.67 million kg this year.
As a result of the drop in global demand, the value of fuel imports also declined by 34.4 percent.