Merchandise exports down 2.7%

MANILA, Philippines - The value of the country’s merchandise exports dropped in January from a year ago due to the continued weakness in outbound shipments of electronic products, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.

The statistics agency reported yesterday that merchandise exports declined by 2.7 percent to $4.011 billion in January from $4.123 billion in the same month last year.

The value of the country’s outbound shipments dropped in January as revenues from the country’s top export or electronic products, slumped 31.9 percent to $1.466 billion from a year ago.

Semiconductors, which had the biggest share among the major groups of electronic products, also had lower export earnings of $1.197 billion in January compared to the $1.560 billion last year.

Despite falling by 23.2 percent in January, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said improvement is expected in semiconductor shipments in the coming months.

“The annual gain of worldwide chip sales recorded suggests an improvement for the industry for the year,” NEDA director general Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement.

Citing the report of the Semiconductor Industry Association, he said worldwide chip sales recorded an annual gain of 3.8 percent.

“Moreover, more orders for semiconductor equipment may be expected as indicated by the upward trend of book-to-bill ratios in major electronics production hubs like the United States (US) and Japan,” he said.

Apart from electronic products, shipments of garments, machinery and transport equipment as well as ignition wiring set used in vehicles, aircraft and ships likewise posted year-on-year declines in January.

Export receipts of articles of apparel and clothing accessories amounted to $99.82 million in January, 41.7 percent lower than the previous year’s.

Machinery and transport equipment exports were valued at $177.24 million in January, down 23.1 percent from the same month last year.

Revenues from exports of ignition wiring set and other wiring sets used in vehicles, aircraft and ships also decreased by 6.1 percent to $98.70 million compared to a year ago.

Meanwhile, other exports such as chemicals, woodcrafts and furniture, metal components, coconut oil and mineral products went up year-on-year.

In terms of destination of Philippine exports, Japan was the top market accounting for a 19.2 percent share of total shipments last month.

Revenues from exports to Japan amounted to $769.03 million, up 8.8 percent from last year.