PHILIPPINE international trade performance continued to shrink in April as exports and imports of goods plummetted to record lows, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported this morning.

Preliminary trade data from the PSA showed merchandise exports in April contracting by 50.8% to $2.78 billion compared to a revised 24.7% decline in March and a 3.1% uptick recorded in April 2019.

Likewise, merchandise imports shrank 65.3% to $3.28 billion in April, a reversal from a 2.9% increase observed in the same month last year.

Based on available PSA data, April figures surpassed record 40.6% export drop in January 2009 and 37.1% import fall in April 2009.

Trade deficit in April was recorded at $499.21 million, narrower than the $3.80-billion gap in the same month last year.

The country’s total external trade in goods – the sum of export and import goods – was $6.07 billion in April, 59.8% less than the $15.10-billion total in the same month last year.

So far, total trade reached $45.06 billion, 23.1% less than $58.59 billion in January-April 2019.

From January to April, exports were down 16.7% to $18.52 billion, well below the 4% drop expected this year by the Development Budget Coordination Committee.

Meanwhile, the merchandise import bill declined 27% to $26.54 billion on a cumulative basis against the DBCC’s 5.5% contraction target for the year.

That brought the year-to-date trade balance to a $8.03-billion deficit, smaller than the $14.14-billion shortfall in 2019’s comparable four months.

Hong Kong was the Philippines’ top export market in April with 20.9% share at $582.07 million followed by China’s 13.8% ($385.28 million) and Japan’s 13.1% ($363.40 million) market shares.

The same month saw China as the country’s top source of imports with a 22.3% share at $732.47 million followed by Japan’s 10.9% ($357.55 million) and South Korea’s 9.1% ($299.54 million) share. — Lourdes O. Pilar

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