Philippines Balance of Trade

Last Release

Aug 31, 2025

Actual

-3,540,752

Units In

USD Thousand

-4,048,593

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Oct 30, 2025

Time to Release

24 Days 19 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
1,144,700 Sep 1999	-6,002,680 Aug 2022	-697,266.03 USD Thousand	1957-2025	National Statistics Office of Philippines

Philippines has been running annual trade deficits due to high imports of raw materials and intermediate goods. In 2013, the biggest trade deficits were recorded with: Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and South Korea while the biggest trade surpluses with: Japan, Hong Kong and the United States.

Latest Updates

The Philippines’ trade deficit narrowed to USD 3.54 billion in August 2025, compared with USD 4.40 billion in the same month last year. Exports rose 4.6% year-on-year to USD 7.06 billion, supported by higher sales of electronic products (8.5%), other mineral products (41.2%), machinery and transport equipment (40.5%), and gold (153.4%). Hong Kong accounted for the largest share of exports (16.9%), followed by the US (15.4%), Japan (13.9%), and China (12%). Still, the 19% tariff imposed by the US continued to weigh on trade momentum. Meanwhile, imports fell 4.9% to USD 10.60 billion, mainly due to reduced purchases of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (-34.2%), transport equipment (-6.2%), and cereals and cereal preparations (-19.4%). China remained the top import source, making up 30.1% of total imports, followed by South Korea (8%), Indonesia (7.9%), and Japan (6.9%). From January to August, the trade gap narrowed to USD 32.38 billion from USD 34.33 billion in 2024.