THE Department of Trade and Industry sees sustained growth for exports in 2017 as Philippine exported goods yielded a 4.5 percent growth in December, with a total of $4.71 billion in export revenues from $4.660 billion in the same period in 2015.

“As we implement new strategies in diversifying our markets and upscaling our products and services amidst the slowdown in global trade, we hope that our exports will continue to improve in the next quarters” said DTI Industry Promotion Group Undersecretary Nora K. Terrado.

In a report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), increase in the top five major export commodities contributed to the growth which include coconut oil (crude and refined; 146.5 percent), other mineral products (104.5 percent), metal components (66.4 percent), chemicals (42.1 percent), and other manufactures (35.8 percent).

While electronic products experienced a 2.8 percent decrease in total receipts, these remained the top export product of the country. PR