Philippines Balance of Trade

Last Release

Sep 30, 2024

Actual

-5,086,999

Units In

USD Thousand

-4,375,412

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Dec 10, 2024

Time to Release

1 Months 1 Days 1 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
1,144,700 Sep 1999	-6,002,680 Aug 2022	-648,678.16 USD Thousand	1957-2024	National Statistics Office of Philippines

Philippines has been running annual trade deficits due to high imports of raw materials and intermediate goods. In 2013, the biggest trade deficits were recorded with: Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and South Korea while the biggest trade surpluses with: Japan, Hong Kong and the United States.

Latest Updates

The trade deficit in the Philippines widened to USD 5.1 billion in September 2024 from USD 3.5 billion in the corresponding month of the previous year. This marked the largest trade deficit since August 2022, as exports fell while imports rose. Year-on-year, exports fell 7.6% to USD 6.3 billion in September, mainly attributed to lower sales of electronic products (-23.1%), copper concentrates (-37.8%), and cathodes and sections of cathodes, of refined copper (-14.4%). Among main trading partners, the largest share in exports was accounted to the USA (17.3%), Hong Kong (13.9%) and Japan (13.5%). Meanwhile, imports rose 9.9% from a year earlier to USD 11.3 billion, primarily due to higher purchases of metalliferous ores and metal scrap (107%), electronic products (8.9%), and other food and live animals (34%). The biggest share of purchases came from China (25%), followed by Indonesia (9.6%) and Japan (7.4%). For the first nine months of 2024, the country posted a gap of USD 39.4 billion.