The Bureau of Customs said Thursday revenue collection from petroleum products jumped 54.1 percent in November to P12.83 billion from P8.33 billion in the same month last year as a result of the surge in imports of diesel and gasoline.
Customs said in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III the increase in revenues was driven by the corresponding spike in excise tax collections from petroleum products.
Data showed excise taxes collected by the bureau from fuel imports from Nov. 1 to 30 reached P8.97 billion, or 88.7 percent higher than last year’s collection of P4.76 billion.
Fuel imports also increased by 32.1 percent in November to 1.1 billion kilograms from 829.4 million kg brought into the country in the same period in 2019.
Crude oil imports declined 51.8 percent in November to 381.8 million kg from 792.7 million kg a year ago, the Customs said during a recent Department of Finance executive committee meeting.
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. shut down its refinery in Batangas in August and announced it would convert the site into an import terminal.
Oil refiners in Asia, North America and Europe 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
The volume of diesel imports amounted to 698.8 million kg in November, up by 60 percent from 436.9 million kg imported in the same period last year. The volume of gasoline imports also climbed 55.7 percent to 259.2 million kg from 166.4 million kg, the BOC data showed.
Imports of kerosene and other oil products grew 354.4 percent from 1.28 million kg in November 2019 to 5.8 million kg in November this year.
Jet fuel imports decreased 71 percent to 14.6 million kg in November from 50.2 million kg a year earlier because of the pandemic-related international travel restrictions.
Preliminary data showed the BOC posted a total collection of P493.32 billion as of end-November, which exceeded by 6.6 percent the revised target of P462.78 billion set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee.
Revenue growth from fuel imports from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30 showed a 1.6 percent increase to 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, the BOC said.
As a result of the drop in global demand, the value of fuel imports also declined by 34.4 percent.
The value of fuel imports from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30 was recorded at P250.52 billion, down from P381.97 billion in the same period in 2019.