Export income up in January-March period

The Department of Trade and Industry has recorded an increase in export income in the first three months this year.

Records of the Dept. of Trade & Industry (DTI-7) showed that Central Visayas generated a US$998.98 million in exports income from January to March 2005, a six percent increase from the same period last year. According to DTI-7 Regional Director Asteria Caberte, ninety-nine percent of the total export earnings in Central Visayas come from electronic products.

The top export earners in the Visayas area include industrial goods, furniture, electrical equipment, garments, marine products, gift, toys and houseware, processed food, fashion accessories and vehicles and machinery parts, Caberte said.

Fifteen percent of the region's total export earnings came from the volume exported to Japan that overtook the United States recently, as the major export market to the Philippines. Other top export markets of Central Visayas are the United States, Hongkong, Indonesia and China, DTI reports.

Cebu Mitsumi, Inc. based in Danao City, is the largest employer in the region and was the top exporter in Cebu for the first quarter this year followed by Pentax Cebu Philippines Corp. based at the MEZ-1 as the second largest exporter.

Other top exporters in Central Visayas include the Tsuneishi Heavy Industries, Inc., a shipbuilding manufacturing plant at the West Cebu Industrial Park in Balamban, Lexmark International Philippines, Inc., and Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. - Jasmin R. Uy