The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the country’s balance of trade (BOT) in April 2025 registered a deficit of USD 3.49 billion. This marks a significant annual decrement of 26.1 percent, indicating a narrowing of the trade gap compared to the previous year.
The April 2025 trade deficit represents a notable improvement when contrasted with March 2025, which saw an annual increase in the deficit of 34.5 percent. In April 2024, the trade deficit recorded an annual decrease of 2.2 percent.
The country’s total external trade in goods for April 2025 reached USD 16.99 billion, a 2.0 percent annual decrease from USD 17.34 billion in the same period last year. This contrasts with annual increases of 14.2 percent in March 2025 and 18.2 percent in April 2024 for total external trade in goods.
Of the total external trade in April 2025, imports accounted for 60.3 percent, while exports made up the remaining 39.7 percent.
Strong Export Performance Drives Improvement
A key factor in the narrowing trade deficit was the robust performance of Philippine exports. Total export sales in April 2025 amounted to USD 6.75 billion, registering a healthy annual increment of 7.0 percent from USD 6.30 billion in April 2024. This follows annual increases of 8.7 percent in March 2025 and 28.2 percent in April 2024 for total export sales.
For the year-to-date period (January to April 2025), the total value of exports reached USD 26.87 billion, representing an annual increase of 9.5 percent from USD 24.54 billion recorded in the same period of 2024.
Key Export Commodities and Partners
The commodity group with the highest annual increment in export value in April 2025 was other manufactured goods, with an increase of USD 497.54 million. This was followed by bananas (fresh) with an annual increase of USD 30.56 million, and coconut oil with an annual increment of USD 28.47 million.
Electronic products continued to dominate the country’s export landscape in April 2025, with total earnings of USD 3.41 billion, accounting for 50.5 percent of the total exports. Other significant export contributors included other manufactured goods at USD 843.60 million (12.5%) and other mineral products at USD 291.61 million (4.3%).
By major type of goods, manufactured goods contributed the largest share to total exports in April 2025, amounting to USD 5.46 billion or 80.9 percent. Agro-based products followed with a share of USD 595.21 million (8.8%), and mineral products contributed USD 480.86 million.
The United States of America (USA) remained the Philippines’ top export trading partner in April 2025, with export values reaching USD 1.03 billion, representing 15.2 percent of the country’s total exports.
Completing the top five major export trading partners for April 2025 were:
- Hong Kong: USD 918.74 million (13.6%)
- Japan: USD 893.60 million (13.2%)
- People’s Republic of China: USD 697.63 million (10.3%)
- Canada: USD 478.50 million (7.1%)
The narrowing of the trade deficit in April 2025, largely attributed to strong export growth, signals positive momentum for the Philippine economy.
