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Adrian Kenneth Halili - The Philippine Star
June 10, 2026 | 12:00am
The country’s agricultural exports surged by 33 percent in April, translating to a smaller deficit as imports contracted by 3.7 percent.
STAR / File
MANILA, Philippines — The country’s agricultural trade deficit narrowed to a five-year low in April amid an increase in exports, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
Preliminary data from the PSA showed the agricultural trade gap sharply declined by 34.7 percent to $600.09 million.
This was the lowest deficit level recorded since February 2021, when the trade gap reached $510.78 million.
The trade deficit for farm goods saw a year-on-year increase of 30.8 percent in March, while an annual decline of 5.8 percent was recorded in April last year.
The surge in farm exports pushed the country’s total agricultural trade to reach $2.66 billion, a 7.8-percent increase from $2.47 billion in the same month last year.
Agricultural exports made up 38.7 percent of the total agricultural trade in April, while imports accounted for 61.3 percent.
The country’s agricultural exports saw an annual increase of 33.2 percent to $1.03 billion from $772.68 million in the same month last year. It accounted for 14.3 percent of the Philippines’ total exports.
“The agricultural export value in April 2026 was the highest recorded since the series began in 2000,” the PSA said.
The top 10 exported commodities in April accounted for 98.2 percent or $1.01 billion of the total agricultural export receipt. The combined export value logged a 35.4-percent annual increase from last year.
Animal, vegetable, or microbial fats and oils and their cleavage products; prepared edible fats; animal or vegetable waxes made up 43.1 percent of the total exports in April valued at $443.57 million.
Meanwhile, agricultural imports declined by 3.7 percent to $1.63 billion from $1.69 billion in the same month last year, accounting for 12.4 percent of the country’s total imports.
The country’s top 10 farm imports amounted to $1.39 billion or 85.4 percent of the total. The amount was 1.8 percent lower than a year a ago.
Among the major imported commodities, cereals made up for the largest share worth $321.65 million or 19.7 percent of the total.
