Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Philippine exports shoot up 15.3 percent in May (12:00 p.m.)
MANILA -- Philippine exports shot up 15.3 percent from a year earlier to 3.26 billion dollars in May, an 18-month high, the government said Tuesday.
Cumulative exports for the five months to May grew 8.6 percent to 15.42 billion dollars, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said in a statement.
The May figure was a sharp improvement over April when exports rose by 8.9 percent to 2.97 billion dollars.
Electronic products made up 66.4 percent of the May total, coming in at 2.16 billion dollars, up 18.7 percent from year-earlier figure.
This was the biggest gain in electronic exports since December 2002, the NSO said.
Apparel and clothing, the second largest component, accounted for 5.5 percent of total exports and were up two percent to 179.63 million dollars.
The United States was the Philippines' largest market, taking 630.57 million dollars worth in the month, up 43.9 percent from a year earlier.
Japan was the second biggest buyer of Philippine exports with 596.25 million dollars, up 5.1 percent.(AFP) |
