Trade gap shrinks to $3.5 billion in April

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May 31, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s trade deficit narrowed in April as exports rose while imports declined.

Preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) yesterday showed that the balance of trade – the difference between exports and imports – amounted to a $3.49-billion deficit in April, 26 percent lower than the $4.73-billion gap in the same month in 2024.

The April trade shortfall is also down from the $4.51-billion deficit in the previous month.

The country’s merchandise exports went up by seven percent to $6.75 billion in April from $6.30 billion in the same month a year ago. 

Commodity groups with the biggest annual increases in exports were other manufactured goods with $497.54 million, fresh bananas with $30.56 million and coconut oil with $28.47 million.

Electronic products continued to be the country’s top exports, with earnings reaching $3.41 billion or 50.5 percent of the country’s total exports during the month. 

Exports of electronic products in April, however, were down by 4.8 percent from $3.58 billion in the same month in 2024.

The United States accounted for the highest export value amounting to $1.03 billion or 15.2 percent of the total in April.

The country’s merchandise imports, on the other hand, dipped by 7.2 percent to $10.24 billion in April from $11.03 billion in the same month last year.

Posting the biggest annual decline in imports was the mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials commodity group, which went down by $586.04 million. 

This was followed by metalliferous ores and metal scrap, which dropped by $266.37 million, and iron and steel with an annual decrement of $149.90 million.

Electronic products posted the biggest import value in April amounting to $2.31 billion, up by six percent from $2.18 billion in the same month in 2024.

China continued to be the biggest source of Philippine imports, valued at $3.01 billion or 29.4 percent of the total in April.

The country’s total external trade in goods dipped by two percent to $16.99 billion in April from the $17.34 billion in the same period last year. 

For the January to April period, the country’s trade deficit amounted to $15.91 billion, down slightly from $15.99 billion in the same period last year.

Merchandise exports grew by 9.5 percent to $26.87 billion in the January to April period from $24.54 billion in the same period in 2024.

Imports also climbed by 5.6 percent to $42.78 billion as of end-April from $40.53 billion in the same period last year.