Higher cost, lower global spending weaken Phl exports in Nov

MANILA, Philippines - The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has attributed the weak performance of merchandise exports in November to high cost of raw materials and lower global spending.

Supply chain disruptions caused by floods in Thailand also affected trade, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA director general Cayetano Paderanga Jr. said.

He said other countries and not just the Philippines were severely affected.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) reported that the country’s export revenue in November 2011 dipped to $3.342 billion or 19.4 percent lower than the $4.146 billion generated in the same period last year.

Paderanga said the poor performance of semiconductors, electronic data processing units and automotive electronics all affected exports growth.

However, he said this is not only happening in the Philippines.

“This trend is not unique to the country as worldwide sales of semiconductors suffered a 2.4 percent decline in November 2011,” Paderanga said.

Paderanga said the floods in Thailand have disrupted supply chains, which impacted on semiconductor sales.

Thailand, he said, reported a contraction in its exports industry in November last year.

Most industries temporarily scaled back their production because of difficulties in exporting and importing goods from flood-hit areas in the country.

“In addition to decelerating exports growth, the very small share of the Philippines in the exports market is also worth noting. In contrast, the neighboring countries are experiencing higher exports growth rate and the revenues from exports were also at much higher levels in November 2011,” he said.

He urged the Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Agriculture to adopt a concrete plan to expand the country’s export markets.

On the other hand, Paderanga said despite the contraction, there are also several export commodity groups that posted gains.

These are the agro-based products (40.1 percent), minerals (18.1 percent) and forest products (159.2 percent).

“Higher exports of total agro-based commodities benefitted from higher receipts from sugar, bananas and canned pineapple,” he said.