Exports quicken, imports ease in January

March 11, 2022

1 Less than a minute

The value of locally made products grew to its fastest pace in five months in January, while imports slowed to its lowest in three months, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported this morning.

Preliminary data from the statistics agency showed merchandise exports went up by 8.9% year on year to $6.043 billion in January, faster than the revised 7.3% growth in December and a turnaround from 4.4% decline in January last year.

It was the quickest pace since 18.9% increase logged in August last year. Export growth has remained in the positive territory for 11th straight month.

January import bill meanwhile increased annually by 27.5% to $10.739 billion, easing from 39.1% growth in December but higher than 22.1% recorded in January 2021.

It was the slowest reading since 25.2% growth in October last year. For 12 consecutive months, imports’ pace has steadied in the positive territory.

This brought trade-in-goods deficit of $4.696 billion in January, smaller than the $5.273-billion gap in the previous month but wider than $2.878-billion deficit in the same month last year.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee expects goods exports and imports to rise by 6% and 10% this year.The United States, which accounted for 15.5% (or $934.77 million) of the total receipts, was the top export destination in January. It was followed by China’s 14.6% share and Japan’s 13.7%.

China, meanwhile, was the country’s main source of imports in Janaury, with 19.3% share (or $2.069 billion) of the total bill, followed by South Korea’s 9.8% and Japan’s 8.8%. — Mariedel Irish U. Catilogo