Exports recover in September as imports remain weak

By: Ben O. de Vera, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 5 Nov 2020

The value of products sold by the Philippines abroad inched up by 2.2 percent year-on-year to $6.22 billion in September and cut short six straight months of exports decline—a green shoot of recovery seen largely dependent on China’s economic growth despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the latest preliminary Philippine Statistics Autho­rity (PSA) data on external trade released on Wednesday showed that the country’s end-September merchandise exports and imports were still below a year-ago levels due to a pandemic-induced global recession.

In a report on Wednesday, ING Bank’s senior economist for the Philippines Nicholas Antonio Mapa noted that electronics—the country’s biggest export commodity—rose by 0.8 percent in September alongside a 32.2-percent jump in shipments of coconut oil to overseas markets.

“Exports to China helped the sector post an expansion with outbound shipments up an impressive 43.3 percent as China’s economy opens up after getting control of the virus,” Mapa said.

PSA data showed that as of September, China and Hong Kong were the Philippines’ top export destinations with a combined $13.54 billion, although down from $14.52 billion a year ago.

Last month, Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua told the Inquirer that “when China recorded positive growth in the second quarter, our exports to China also recovered.”

China’s second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 3.2 percent year-on-year, rever­sing the 6.8-percent contraction in the first quarter when it imposed stringent lockdowns to control the spread of the coronavirus, especially in the city of Wuhan, one of its biggest commercial and industrial hubs.

Chua, who heads the state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority, had said that Philippine exports might similarly recover in the third quarter alongside China’s 4.9-percent GDP growth during the July-to-September period.

The monthly value of imports, however, was lower year-on-year during each of the first nine months. In September alone, imports slid 16.5 percent year-on-year to $7.92 billion.

“Almost all [import] subsectors posted declines, the steepest falls were recorded in fuel (51.4 percent), capital goods (17 percent) and consumer goods (13.8 percent), showing a broad-based downturn in economic activity as the Philippines remains mired in a recession,” Mapa noted.

Total foreign trade last September dropped by 9.2 percent year-on-year to $14.14 billion.

From January to September, goods exports reached $45.87 billion, down 13.8 percent from $53.21 billion a year ago.

Imports fell by a faster 26 percent to $61.95 billion as of end-September from $83.69 billion during the first nine months of last year.

As such, total external trade plunged by 21.2 percent to $107.82 billion during the nine-month period from a year ago’s $136.9 billion.