Exports climbed 15 percent in February to $6.16 billion from a year ago and exceeded pre-pandemic levels on strong global demand for electronics, mineral products and coconut oil, preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show.
Cumulative exports in the first two months reached $12.2 billion, or 11.9 percent higher than $10.9 billion in the same period in 2021 and 15.7 percent larger than the 2019 pre-pandemic value.
Electronics continued to dominate export sales, accounting for 55.9 percent of the total in February with revenues of $3.44 billion. Top electronics exports were components/devices (semiconductors), electronic data processing devices, telecommunication equipment, consumer electronics, and control and instrumentation.
Resource-based manufacturers also contributed to the strong export performance in February led by copper cathodes (up 130.2 percent), coconut oil (up 118.2 percent), and other mineral products (up 27.5 percent).
China remained the main growth driver in the country’s copper exports.
Other industrial products that registered double-digit growth rates included electronic equipment and parts at 17.2 percent; electronic products, 15.1 percent; chemicals, 14.2 percent; and other manufactured goods at 12.2 percent.
“Our earlier efforts to ensure 100-percent operating capacity for the export sector enabled the sector to meet the growth in global demand. Momentum picked up as well as we continued to develop more export champions,” said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.
Coconut oil continued to lead the country’s agricultural export. Shipments of coconut oil more than doubled to $195.7 million from last year’s export of $89.7 million. The global coconut oil market is estimated to grow by 5.5 percent in 2022 to reach $5.7 billion in value.
The US remained the Philippines’ biggest export market accounting for 15.7 percent or $966.7 million of the total. This was followed by Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Meanwhile, merchandise imports jumped 20.1 percent in February to $9.69 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $3.53 billion during the month.
The trade deficit in the first two months also ballooned 47 percent to $8.244 billion from $5.585 billion a year ago, as the 24-percent growth in imports outpaced the 12-percent expansion in exports.
Imports reached $20.45 billion in the two-month period, up from $16.489 billion a year earlier, while exports grew to $12.205 billion from $10.903 billion.
The annual increment of imported goods in February was due to the increase in inbound shipments of mineral fuels, lubricants, and related materials, with 131.6 percent annual increase; cereals and cereal preparations which rose 83.8 percent; and other food and live animals, up 23.3 percent.
Most of the imported goods were electronic products with an import value of $2.40 billion or a share of 24.8 percent to the total imports in February. This was followed by mineral fuels, lubricants, and related materials, valued at $1.67 billion (17.2 percent); and transport equipment which amounted to $916.95 million (9.5 percent).
The country incurred a trade deficit of $43.134 billion in 2021, up by $18.5 billion from $24.6-billion shortfall in 2020. With Julito G. Rada