Domestic goods trade falls 20% in Q1 - BusinessWorld Online

TRAILER TRUCKS crawl through heavy traffic along Mel Lopez Avenue in Manila, April 18, 2026.— PHILIPPINE STAR/NOEL B.

PABALATE By Isa Jane D.Acabal, Researcher DOMESTIC TRADE in goods declined by 20% year on year in the first quarter, amid slower economic growth and supply-chain disruptions, analysts said.

Preliminary data from the Philippine Statistic Authority’s Commodity Flow Survey showed the value of total domestic trade fell by 19.8% to P820.81 billion in the January-to-March period from P1.02 trillion in the same period in 2025.By volume, domestic trade dropped by 35.3% to 10.17 million tons in the first quarter from 15.72 million tons a year earlier.

The value of commodities transported by road reached P526.11 billion, accounting for 64.1% of the total.Goods transported by water were valued at P294.12 billion (35.8% share), while those transported by air were valued at P567.9 million (0.1% share).

“The sharp decline in domestic trade in goods in the first quarter appears to have been driven by a combination of weaker economic activity, lower agricultural and fisheries output, and supply-chain disruptions,” Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development Senior Research Fellow Ser Percival K.Peña-Reyes said in a Viber message.

The Philippine economy grew by 2.8% in the first quarter of 2026, sharply slowing from the 5.4% expansion a year earlier and the 3% growth in the fourth quarter of 2025.Marco Antonio C.

Agonia, an economist at the University of Asia and the Pacific, also attributed the year-on-year decline in the value and volume of domestic trade to the subdued economic environment in the first three months of the year.“From the downbeat Q1 2026 GDP reading, we can piece together lower spending appetite from both consumers and businesses resulting in lower domestic trade flows.

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