June exports jump 8.3% to $4.5 B
Rica D. Delfinado
Philippine Star
Exports grew 8.3 percent in June from a year ago, faster than the 2.3-percent annual increase in the earlier month, as electronics shipments rebounded, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported yesterday.
Exports amounted to $4.493 billion in June compared with $4.147 billion in the same period last year.
This brought export receipts from January to June to $25.578 billion, a four-percent increase from $24.6 billion a year ago.
Shipments of electronic products, the country’s most important export group, rose 6.4 percent, after contracting three months in a row to May due to soft global demand.
Electronics, largely assembled from imported parts, accounted for 58.6 percent or $2.63 billion of the total export revenue in June.
Apparel and clothing accesssories was the country’s second top earner in June with a combined share of 3.8 percent and an aggragate receipt of $172.33 million. The figure, however, was 7.6 percent lower than $186.50 million in June. Petroleum products followed with total revenue of $137.28 million.
Rounding up the list of top exports were: coconut oil, $116.97 million; woodcraft and furniture, $110.72 million; ignition wiring set, $78.33 million and metal components, $53.39 million.
The US emerged as the country’s top export destination, with export receipts of $702.74 million, down 0.1 percent year-on-year.
Japan was the second biggest market, accounting for $652.36 million or 14.5 percent of the total. The amount was up 2.6 percent over last year’s.
Other leading markets include China ($491.43 million), Hong Kong ($436.25 million), Netherlands ($349.55 million), Germany ($301 million), Singapore ($246.28 million), Korea ($233.46), Malaysia ($177.60 million), and Taiwan ($170.39 million).
The government has revised its forecast for export growth in 2008 to five percent from six percent largely due to slower export demand. Growth in 2007 was 6.05 percent.
Shipments of electronics and semiconductors should rise five percent after a 4.5 percent expansion last year, industry experts earlier said.
The Philippines supplies about 10 percent of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing services, including mobile phone chips and micro processors. Other key exports include garments and accessories, vehicle parts, coconut oil, tropical fruit and wood furniture.
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