Exports post highest growth in 15 years

MERCHANDISE exports grew by 42.5 percent year-on-year in January, posting US$3.6 billion total receipts, according to preliminary reports of National Statistics Office (NSO).

"This is the highest year-on-year growth rate posted since April 1995. Most major commodity groups supported this growth in January 2010," said acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Augusto B. Santos in his memorandum to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Meanwhile, month-on-month, merchandise exports grew by 8.0 percent.

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Manufactured goods pushed up exports growth, increasing by 47.1 percent year-on-year on account of the significant growth in electronic products (51.2 percent) compared to the same period in 2009.

The rise in electronics exports were led by semiconductors (58.9 percent), electronic data processing or EDP (83.3 percent), and communication/radar (598.1 percent), control and instrumentation (56.6 percent), and medical/industrial instrumentation (116.2 percent).

"The rebound in electronic products sustained the 40.9 percent increase recorded in the preceding month," Santos said.

Moreover, he said the performance is consistent with the Semiconductor Industry Association’s (SIA) report that worldwide chip sales in January 2010 were 47.2 percent higher than that for January 2009, reflecting improving business environment for the industry.

Locally, the semiconductor and electronics industries in the Philippines Inc. is expecting electronic exports to grow by as high as 20 percent for this year. Improvements in the following months are also expected as the North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry noted the 1.20 book-to-bill ratio in January of this year.

"This means that US$120 worth of orders for semiconductor equipment was received for every US$100 of products billed for the month," said Santos.

Furthermore, total agro-based products also posted a positive year-on-year increase at 30 percent. This is supported by the growth in export receipts of coconut products (236.0 percent) and other agro-based products (16.5 percent).

Also, export receipts from forest and petroleum products grew by 60.0 percent and 116.7 percent, respectively.

Japan led the exports market this January with a 16.2 percent share due to the 49.9 percent growth in its purchases of Philippine goods. The US placed second with a share of 16.1 percent. Other major buyers of Philippine exports in January were Singapore (9.9 percent), Germany (8.4 percent), and PR China (8.3 percent).