Philippine exports up 7.8% in July, electronics down 25%

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Global demand for Philippine products picked up 7.8% in July with total exports receipts reaching US$4.807 billion, the statistics office showed.

This despite a slower demand for electronics products, the biggest single export product of the country.

Electronics contributed $1.675 billion in receipts, accounting for 34.9% of total exports revenue in July. That is 25.6% lower than the $2.253 billion registered a year ago, the sharpest drop for the year and lowest since December 2009.

The slackening electronics exports were compensated by higher growth in 7 out of the 10 top Philippine exports, which reached $3.077 billion, or 64% of the total exports.

Below is a snapshot of how other Philippine products performed in July:

• Metal Components – $647.64 million, 13.5% share in total exports value, and growth of 783.6% from a year ago.
• Woodcrafts and Furniture – $176.73 million, 3.7% share
• Apparel and Clothing Accessories – $152.66 million, 3.2% share, down 19.2%
• Ignition Wiring Set and Other Wiring Sets Used in Vehicles, Aircrafts and Ships (consisting only of electrical wiring harness for motor vehicles) – $136.8 million, 2.8% share
• Coconut Oil – $105.02 million, down 29.9%
• Bananas (Fresh) – $68.50 million, up 57%
• Pineapple and Pineapple Products – $46.95 million, up 17.5%
• Activated Carbon – $39.56 million, up 973.6%
• Tuna (fresh, frozen, prepared or preserved in airtight containers) – $27.68 million, up 7.2%

Meantime, the top 10 destination of Philippine export products for July, accounting for 85.7% of total, were:

1. Singapore (machinery, semiconductors) –  $832.45 million, up 137.1% from a year ago, 17.3% share of total exports -. It was higher by 137.1 percent from $351.13 million recorded a year ago. The export items to
2. Japan including Okinawa –  $764.13 million, down 27.5, share of 15.9%
3. USA (including Alaska, Hawaii) – $667.64 million, up 2.5%, 13.9% share
4. China – $495.21 million, down 13.7%, 10.3% share
5. Hong Kong – $365.95 million, up 25.8%
6. Thailand – $273.17 million
7. Netherlands – $192.60 million
8. Republic of Korea – $191.48 million
9. Indonesia – $188.31 million
10. Taiwan, $149.44 million

Total merchandise exports for the first 7 months reached $31.564 billion, a 7.7% growth from $29.306 billion a year ago.

Bucked the trend

In a statement on Tuesday, September 11, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said the country’s export growth in July was the highest export growth in July, second only to Vietnam’s 8.4% and followed by China which posted an export growth of only 1%.

Asian countries posted contractions in export performance. The list includes Taiwan which posted a decline of 11.6%; Republic of Korea, 8.8%; Japan, 7.6%; Indonesia, 4.5%; Thailand, 4.5%; Singapore, 3.3%; Hong Kong, 3.1%; and Malaysia, 1.9%.

“Most of the Asian counterparts of the Philippines registered negative export performance in July 2012, except for Viet Nam and China, as weak economic conditions in major advanced economies continued to cloud the global trade environment,” Neda National Planning and Policy Staff Dr. Rosemarie Edillon said.

Edillon also explained that the weak electronics exports reflected the sluggish global demand. She cited that a report of the United States Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), worldwide chip sales dipped by 1.9 percent from $24.9 billion in July 2011 to $24.4 billion in July 2012.

She said the decline in electronic shipments was due to lower overseas sales of electronic data processing which contracted 61.6%; semiconductors, 12.1%; consumer electronics, 36.5%; and automotive electronics, 99%.

“The decline in semiconductor exports reflected the developments in the global chip market,” Edillon said. – Rappler.com