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The Philippines improved two ranks to 21st out of 50 of the world’s most promising emerging logistics markets in the 2026 edition of the Agility Emerging Markets Index
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The higher rank was still short of its previous 18th place from 2022-2024
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After dipping in ranks in the 2025 index, the Philippines this year saw an improvement with a score of 4.96, a slight rise from the 4.91 score last year
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The Philippines improved in three of the four key areas–digital readiness, domestic logistics opportunities, and business fundamentals
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The country, however, continued to drop ranks for international logistics opportunities
The Philippines improved two ranks to 21st out of 50 of the world’s most promising emerging logistics markets in the 2026 edition of the Agility Emerging Markets Index.
After dipping in ranks in the 2025 index to 23rd after three consecutive years in 18th, the Philippines year saw an improvement with a score of 4.96, a slight rise from the 4.91 score last year.
The annual index—conducted by global logistics industry research and analysis service provider Transport Intelligence and global supply chain company Agility—provides a snapshot of industry sentiment and ranks countries for overall competitiveness based on their logistics strengths, business climates and digital readiness—factors that make them attractive to logistics providers, freight forwarders, air and ocean carriers, distributors and investors.
It examines key areas for logistics market development, namely, domestic logistics opportunities, international logistics opportunities, business fundamentals; and digital readiness.
For this year’s index, 503 logistics industry professionals were surveyed.
For the 2026 index, the Philippines improved in three of the four key areas, with digital readiness recording the biggest gain, climbing up to 18th place from 23rd last year with a score of 5.35 from the previous 5.05.
Digital readiness measures the potential and progress of an emerging market in becoming a digitally led, skills rich, innovation-oriented and sustainable economy for the future. For this year, the digital readiness assessment has been expanded to include artificial intelligence (AI) readiness, adoption and investment. The report noted that there is “little doubt that AI will change the way global supply chains are built, but even less doubt that access to all that it promises depends on a variety of macroeconomic factors.”
The Philippines jumped up one place to 16th for domestic logistics opportunities, as its score grew to 5.03 from 4.97 last year. Domestic opportunities measure the performance of each emerging market and its potential to sustain and develop domestic demand that requires competitive logistics markets.
The country also rose one rank to 30th for business fundamentals, which measure the openness, robustness, fairness and strength of each emerging market’s business environment, rule of law and market independence. The Philippines scored higher this year at 4.62 from 4.53 last year.
The country, meanwhile, continued to drop ranks in international logistics opportunities, falling to 19th from 16th place last year with a score of 4.8 from the previous 4.95. International logistics opportunities measure internal and external demand for trade intensive logistics services and the capacity of individual emerging markets to facilitate cross-border logistics operations.
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In the overall ranking, the same 10 countries remained the top emerging logistics markets in 2026, with China (1st), India (2nd), United Arab Emirates (3rd), Saudi Arabia (4th), Malaysia (5th), Indonesia (6th), and Thailand (9th) leading and maintaining their ranks from last year. The three other markets completing the top 10 this year were Qatar (up one rank to 7th), Mexico (down one rank to 8th), and Brazil (up three ranks to 10th).
The six Gulf countries, which are positioning themselves as global transit and logistics hubs, are all among the top 12 for best business conditions, while the countries most digitally ready are China, Malaysia, India, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
In international logistics opportunities, China, India, Mexico, UAE and Saudi Arabia rank highest. In domestic logistics, the leaders are China, India, Indonesia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Overall though, Ukraine (31st) was the standout performer, powered primarily by a sharp rise in domestic opportunities and visible reconstruction momentum, the report noted. In contrast, Cambodia (37th) faces a more restrained economic outlook, with continued trade disruptions, declining remittances, border clashes with Thailand, and softer tourism activity weighing on domestic demand, while financial vulnerabilities are becoming more pronounced.
About 86% of the 503 industry professionals surveyed for the latest index say they expect increased volatility in 2026 or view trade, political and economic turbulence as the “new normal.”
The survey also shows near-universal logistics industry adoption of AI, with 98% of respondents saying their companies are using AI to manage a piece of their supply chain or operations.
READ: Global logistics execs using AI, cost controls in ‘new normal’
The survey also suggests that shifts in global production and sourcing – spurred first by the COVID-19 pandemic, then U.S.-China friction, and last year by a wave of tariff increases – are continuous today as companies restructure and fine tune their supply chains.
A significant percentage (48%), meanwhile, say their companies are pausing or slowing on sustainability. The most frequently cited reasons include cost-cutting, shifting business priorities, and difficulty showing return on investment.
“Leaders in business and government realize there is no comfort zone, no time to rest. They’re searching for durable paths to growth at a time of extraordinary uncertainty,” Agility chairman Tarek Sultan said in a statement.
“They see AI as both a contributor to volatility and a tool to manage it. They’re facing new trade barriers in real time. They’re pushing the energy transition, and they’re navigating conflict between economic partners,” Sultan added.
For his part, Ti chief executive officer John Manners-Bell said: “One phrase which came up time and again throughout our research was ‘structural uncertainty’ — caused by geopolitical fragmentation, trade policy volatility and uneven economic momentum. The Index confirms that supply chain companies aren’t retreating from this uncertainty but instead are engineering around it.”
