Philippines Balance of Trade

Last Release

Jul 31, 2024

Actual

-4,868,000

Units In

USD Thousand

-4,303,634

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Oct 10, 2024

Time to Release

27 Days 17 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
1,144,700 Sep 1999	-6,002,680 Aug 2022	-638,610.28 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 4.9 billion in July 2024 from USD 4.1 billion in the corresponding month of the prior year. It was the largest trade gap since March 2023, amid a surge in imports. Purchases grew 7.2% yoy to USD 11.1 billion, mainly due to higher purchases of electronic products (11.8%), transport equipment (2.2%), and industrial machinery (19.2%). The biggest share of purchases came from China (27.7%), followed by Indonesia (8.5%) and Japan (8.0%). Meanwhile, exports edged up 0.1% yoy to USD 6.2 billion, mainly boosted by shipments of other manufactured goods (33.3%), other mineral products (18.2%), machinery and transport equipment (29.1%), and ignition wiring set and other wiring sets used in vehicles, aircraft, and ships (4.2%). Among main trading partners, the largest share in exports was accounted to the USA (16.9%), followed by Japan (14.0%) and China (12.7%). For the first eight months of 2024, the country posted a gap of USD 29.9 billion.