Despite a new economic reopening during the Christmas holiday period, strong typhoons and base effects caused the volume and value of goods traded in the archipelago to decline during the fourth quarter of 2021.
The latest domestic trade report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed on Tuesday that the amount of products shipped locally from October to December 2021 fell by 29.5% to 3.32 million tons, from 4 .71 million tonnes in the same three-month period last year.
Lower total value
In terms of value, domestic trade fell 36.4 percent to 105.9 billion pesos in the fourth quarter of last year, from 166.5 billion pesos a year ago.
As a reminder, a series of typhoons hit the country in the fourth quarter of 2021, temporarily halting means of air and sea transport while damaging local crops such as vegetables, causing a temporary shortage.
In addition, the base effect played a role as the volume and value of domestic trade increased towards the end of 2020 when the government, at the time, eased the longest and longest containment measures. strictest measures imposed to contain COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic.
But on an annual basis, local trade in goods in the fourth quarter of 2020 was below pre-pandemic levels in 2019 as restrictions persisted.
PSA data showed that the value and volume of domestic trade in the fourth quarter of 2021 were also lower than the 183.8 billion pesos and 4.56 million tons in the third quarter, respectively.
Food, Most Traded Livestock
The PSA said food and live animals were the most traded commodities in the country by volume during the October-December 2021 period, at 1.13 million tonnes, or a third of the total.
In terms of value, machinery and transport equipment was the top traded at the end of last year, with a value of 32.49 billion pula or 30.7% of the total goods transferred from one province or from one region to another.
According to PSA data, 99.9 percent of products were traded or delivered to other parts of the country last year by sea, while the rest were by air. INQ
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