THE Philippines’ trade deficit widened in March 2025, reaching US$4.13 billion, an annual increase of 23.1 percent. This comes as the value of imported goods outpaced export earnings during the month, according to the data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority on Wednesday, April 30, 2025.
The total value of imported goods in March 2025 surged to $10.72 billion, marking an 11.9 percent annual increase from the $9.58 billion recorded in the same period last year. This growth in imports was primarily driven by higher values of electronic products ($500.53 million increase), industrial machinery and equipment ($137.21 million increase) and animal and vegetable oils and fats ($120.31 million increase).
Meanwhile, the country’s total export sales in March 2025 amounted to $6.59 billion, exhibiting a more modest annual growth of 5.9 percent compared to the $6.23 billion in March 2024. The top performing export commodities included other manufactured goods ($123.02 million increase), coconut oil ($105.93 million increase) and other mineral products ($54.21 million increase). Electronic products remained the top export commodity, accounting for 55.2 percent of total exports with earnings of $3.64 billion.
For the first three months of 2025, the year-to-date trade data also reflects this trend. The total value of imports from January to March reached $31.98 billion, an 8.4 percent increase from the same period in 2024. Similarly, the year-to-date value of exports stood at $19.27 billion, representing a 5.7 percent annual growth.
By major trading partners, the United States of America (USA) was the top destination for Philippine exports in March 2025, accounting for 16.8 percent of the total export value at $1.11 billion. Other key export markets included Hong Kong (15.3 percent), Japan (14.6 percent), China (11.6 percent) and Singapore (4.2 percent).
On the import side, the China was the Philippines’ largest supplier of goods, valued at $3.10 billion or 28.9 percent of the total imports in March 2025. Indonesia (8.3 percent), Japan (7.8 percent), Korea (6.8 percent) and Thailand (5.9 percent) rounded out the top five import trading partners.
The widening trade deficit in March underscores the continued strong demand for imported goods in the Philippines, outpacing the growth in export earnings during the period. / KOC