MANILA -- Philippine external merchandise trade in May totaled $14.54 billion, up by 39.9% from the same month last year.

For the first five months of 2021, total merchandise trade reached $72.9 billion, up by 25.0% from the same period last year but still down by 2.4% from the same period in 2019, the last normal year before the pandemic. Year-to-date export value was 5.8% lower than its pre-pandemic level, while import value was 3.3% higher.  

DOF View

The arrival of additional vaccines and the continued vaccination drive for Filipinos, economic front-liners in particular, will help the country sustain the gains in containing the virus and eventually pave the way for more reopening of the economy.

Rising shipping costs are and will continue to be a challenge to external trade. By the last week of June, the Freightos Baltic Index (FBX): Global Container Freight Index averaged 6,297, nearly twice the 3,448 average for the last week of December 2020 and more than four times the 1,461 average for the last week of December 2019.   (DOF)