Saturday, October 18, 2008 China catching fast as top export market
CHINA is fast catching up as the Philippines' top export market as the country's total exports to the communist-run mainland surged nearly nine percent at $491.4 million during the first six months this year compared to $451.5 million covering the same period last year, data from the National Statistics Coordination Board shows.
United States is still the top market of this Southeast Asian country, racking up a total of $703 million, around 15 percent of the total country's exports, but dropping slightly at 0.1 percent during the same period, the NSCB data shows.
Coming in as the country's number 2 export market is still Japan which kept this position steadily for several years, as Philippine exporters shipped a total of $652 million, rising 2.6 percent from last year's total export shipments during the first semester.
Trailing fast behind is China mainland as the number 3 Philippine export market with its own autonomous region Hong Kong coming close as the number 4 market, importing a total of $436 million of Philippine products covering the same period this year, up by an impressive 10.5 percent.
Combining both China and Hong Kong since both export markets are run basically by the same market-driven communist government, total Philippine export shipments show much bigger revenues at $927 million, technically making this huge Chinese market the country's number 1 export market, NSCB data shows.
Fresh fruits, processed foods, canned goods, commodities and minerals like gold, copper, chrome and nickel are some of the biggest products and raw materials shipped from the Philippines to the ports of Hong Kong and the China mainland.
More trade with China has been a major shift in trading strategy crafted by top government planners, as the global financial turmoil is pushing the US in the brink of a long, deep recession, threatening to wipe its position as the Philippines' top export market.
Trade Undersecretary Merly Cruz expressed optimism that this trading strategy will be good for the country in the long run as China begin to shift its focus to its Asian neighbors, amidst the threat of a worldwide recession.
"Its better and prudent for us to depend on each other in Asia instead of depending only in one or two major global markets. In the long run, our plans and strategies to boost Philippine exports in new, emerging markets will benefit our local exporters, boost our economy and provide more jobs for Filipinos," Cruz said.
In spite of declining markets in US and Europe, the country's total merchandise exports from January to June this year racked up $4.5 billion, up by 8.3 percent compared to last year's $4 billion, with electronics topping all exports in the Philippines at $2.6 billion, a rise of 6.4 percent, year-on-year, NSCB data shows.
