MANILA, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' total external trade in goods in October declined 12.8 percent from a year earlier to 14.18 billion U.S. dollars amid nearly nine-month lockdown restrictions to curb the spread of the COVID-19.
"This was faster than the annual drop in the previous month at 8.2 percent, and in October 2019 at 4.6 percent," the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said in a report on Thursday.
Of the total external trade in October 2020, the PSA said 56.3 percent were imported goods, while the rest exported goods.
The PSA said the total export sales in October 2020, which hit 6.20 billion U.S. dollars, decreased at an annual rate of 2.2 percent, from a 2.9 percent increase in the previous month.
Data showed the cumulative export earnings from January to October 2020 amounted to 52.11 billion U.S. dollars, lower by 12.5 percent than the export value earned from January to October 2019.
Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said that despite the declines, there are some positive takeaways from the trade data.
Chua said that merchandise exports to leading regional trading partners such as China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations both grew in double digits.
PSA data showed export to China in October grew 15.2 percent at 944.78 million U.S. dollars.
The PSA said total imported goods in October 2020, which amounted to 7.98 billion U.S. dollars, remained at a downtrend with an annual rate of 19.5 percent.
The value of imports continued to post negative annual growth for 18 straight months since May 2019, the PSA added.
Data showed the cumulative import value from January to October 2020 amounted to 70.04 billion U.S. dollars, representing a decline of 25.2 percent compared with the import value of 93.61 billion U.S. dollars posted in the same period of 2019. Enditem
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