ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Business devider PH trade deficit drops to $4.17 B in October

PH trade deficit drops to $4.17 B in October

Published Dec 12, 2023 05:41 am

At A Glance

  • The Philippine trade deficit narrowed by 26% to $4.17 billion in July compared to the previous year.
  • Export sales fell by 17.5% to $6.36 billion. Electronic products and copper experienced significant declines in export values. Major trading partners for exports included the United States, Japan, and China.
  • Total export earnings from January to October decreased by 7.8% to $60.91 billion.
  • Import receipts in July decreased by 4.4% to $10.54 billion. Notable declines in import values were observed in mineral fuels, electronic products, and food and live animals.
  • Major suppliers of imported goods included China, Indonesia, and Japan.
  • Total import value from January to October decreased by 9.6% to $104.97 billion.

The country’s trade deficit saw an increase in October after both exports and imports contracted by double-digits, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed Tuesday, Dec. 12.

The trade deficit, or the difference between the value of export and import, narrowed by 26 percent to $4.17 billion in October, compared with $3.31 billion of the same period a year ago.

The value of exports declined 17.5 percent to $6.36 billion from $7.71 billion in the previous year and also slightly lower than the $6.73 billion recorded in September.

The most significant decreases were observed in electronic products, which fell $1.476 billion, followed by other copper concentrates down $43.09 million, coconut oil lower by $23.22 million, gold dropped $15.21 million, and miscellaneous manufactured articles down $13.19 million.

Of the total exports, manufactured goods contributed the largest share with $5.19 billion or 81.5 percent, followed by mineral products with $599.36 million or 9.4 percent, and total agro-based products with $418.59 million or 6.6 percent.

By major trading partner, exports to the United States of America comprised the highest export value amounting to $1.02 billion, followed by Japan, $902.65 million; People’s Republic of China, $880.37 million; Hong Kong, $759.02 million; and Republic of Korea, $317.38 million.

The performance on export in October brings the total export earnings to $60.91 billion, lower by 7.8 percent compared with $66.08 billion in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, import receipts were valued at $10.54 billion in October, down 4.4 percent from $11.02 billion in the same month a year ago.

Declines were seen in the import of electronic products by $590.51 million to $2.19 billion, mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials by $99.34 million to $1.79 billion, and other food and live animals by $71.48 million to $409.09 million

Moreover, animal and vegetable oil and fats decreased by $62.47 million to $109.73 million while metalliferous ores and metal scrap was down by $47.18 million to $219.08 million.

People’s Republic of China was the country’s biggest supplier of imported goods valued at $2.60 billion, followed by Indonesia, $917.5 million; Japan, $834.9 million; Republic of Korea, $785.8 million; and USA, $711.8 million.

In the first 10 months of the year, the total import value reached $104.97 billion, a decline of 9.6 percent compared with $116.08 billion last year in the same period.
 

Related Tags

Philippine Statistics Authority Imports Exports trade deficit
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.