PHL EXPORTS EXPAND BY 7.8 PERCENT IN JULY 2012, BUCK DECLINING TREND AMONG ASIAN NEIGHBORS

MANILA— Merchandise exports increased year-on-year by 7.8 percent to US$4.8 billion, bucking the declining trend in the July 2012 exports among most of the Philippines’ Asian neighbors, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

“Most of the Asian counterparts of the Philippines registered negative export performance in July 2012, except for Viet Nam and China, as weak economic conditions in major advanced economies continued to cloud the global trade environment,” said Dr. Rosemarie Edillon of the NEDA-National Planning and Policy Staff.

Edillon said the Philippines followed Vietnam which recorded the highest year-on-year exports growth of 8.4 percent. China’s exports increased only by 1.0 percent for July 2012. The Asian countries that experienced a negative export performance were Taiwan (-11.6%), Republic of Korea (-8.8%), Japan (-7.6%), Indonesia (-4.5%), Thailand (-4.5%), Singapore (-3.3%), Hong Kong (-3.1%), and Malaysia (-1.9%).

“Manufactured goods, which rose by 14.8 percent in July 2012 and accounts for 85.9 percent of total exports, buoyed merchandise exports,” she said.

The rise in manufactured goods is attributed to higher earnings from machinery and transport equipment (258.3%), chemicals (92.6%), other electronics (68.8%), wood manufactures (7.3%), and processed food and beverages (1.2%).

With these figures, merchandise exports increased by 7.7 percent to US$31.6 billion for the first seven months of 2012, from US$29.3 billion in the same period last year.

Moreover, exports still posted a positive growth in July 2012 despite the decline of electronics by 25.6 percent to US$1.7 billion from US$2.3 billion a year ago.

“The continued weakening of electronics exports reflects sluggish global demand,” said Edillon.  

Electronics shipments slowed due to lower overseas sales of electronic data processing (-61.6%), semiconductors (-12.1%), consumer electronics (-36.5%) and automotive electronics (-99.0%).

“The decline in semiconductor exports reflected the developments in the global chip market,” the NEDA-NPPS official said. In a report of the United States Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), worldwide chip sales dipped by 1.9 percent from US$24.9 billion in July 2011 to US$24.4 billion in July 2012.

The country’s primary agro-based exports that grew for July 2012 included bananas (57.0%), fish products (13.7%) and raw coffee (2,702.7%). But coconut and sugar products declined by 25.2 percent and 79.1 percent, respectively, resulting in an overall decline of total agro-based products by 17.4 percent year on year.

Lower receipts from minerals and petroleum products also weighed down export growth in July 2012.

“The growing concerns over slower demand from PR China and Europe affected prices of metal and minerals,” said Edillon. These exports in metal and mineral products declined by 18.6 percent in July 2012 to US$225.0 million from US$276.3 million in the same period last year.

The biggest export market of the Philippines in July 2012 was Singapore with a 17.3 percent share of the country’s total export revenues. Following Singapore was Japan (15.9%), the USA (13.9%), the People’s Republic of China (10.3%), and Hong Kong (7.6%).

M.R. No. 2012-061

11 September 2012