THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) lost some P2.7 billion in tariff collection in February, as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused imports from China alone to drop by an annualized rate of 34.67 percent in terms of volume.
The latest data from the BOC obtained by the BusinessMirror showed that revenues from shipments from China fell by 27.41 percent to P7.17 billion in February, from last year’s P9.88 billion. Volume was also lower at 936.25 million kilograms, from last year’s 1.43 billion kg.
The decline in revenues from China’s shipments to the Philippines pulled down the BOC’s total collection from imports last month. The bureau collected a total of P41.67 billion, 2.58 percent lower than the 2019 record of P42.77 billion.
Overall import volume, according to BOC data, also slid by 6.67 percent to 8.15 billion kg, from last year’s 8.73 billion kg.
Despite the revenue loss in February, the BOC’s cumulative collection in January and February rose by 5 percent, or P4.5 billion, to P94.51 billion from P90 billion, from P90 billion recorded a year ago.
As of end-February, total import volume fell by 5.34 percent to 17.84 billion kg, from 18.85 billion kg last year. Import volume from China fell by an annualized rate of 11.75 percent; South Korea, 12.52 percent; Thailand, 30.84 percent; and Vietnam, 32.02 percent.
Import volume from China as of February fell to 2.84 billion kg, from 3.22 billion kg in the same period in 2019.
While the decline in revenues and shipments from China is something that the government had hoped will not happen, BOC Assistant Commissioner Vincent Philip Maronilla said the bureau had expected it because of the outbreak of COVID-19.
However, Maronilla said he believes the government “was able to manage the effects of COVID-19 and the Chinese New Year in terms of revenue collection and trade.”
“Some big companies have declared a stoppage in production because of the lack of raw materials as some of their raw materials come from China so we expected that, but we are hopeful that we have been able to manage to deficit,” he told the BusinessMirror in a phone interview.
Moving forward, Maronilla said the BOC expects trade to normalize in the months to come.
“We received reports that production has started in some areas but we have to see how COVID-19 will affect overall outlook,” he said.
Despite this, Maronilla expressed confidence that the BOC will be able to hit its collection goal of P731 billion for 2020.
To make up for the revenue loss, Maronilla said the BOC has set its sights on non-traditional sources of revenue. He said the BOC will intensify its post clearance audit and review the pending cases against some companies which owe money to the bureau.