MANILA - Philippine exports surged 42.5% in January from a year earlier, marking the second month of strong double-digit growth and the highest jump since April 1995, boosted by a pick up in demand as the global economy recovers.
Data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed that the country’s export earnings for the first month of 2010 rose to $3.578 billion from the year-ago level of $2.511 billion. Compared to December’s level of $3.312 billion, January’s exports were up by 8%.
Shipments of electronics, which dominate exports and are largely assembled from imported parts, climbed 51.2% to $2.034 billion in January after a 40.9% jump in December. This was the first double-digit jump in 2 years.
Semiconductor exports, which comprised 41% of total
exports and the biggest share among the major groups of electronic
products, amounted to $1.467 billion or an annual increase of 59%.
Philippine exports started to slow down in September 2008 and had since
contracted as demand from most of the country’s trading partners
softened due to the global crisis.
Contributing about two-fifths of the country’s total output based on
expenditure terms, exports recovered only in November 2009, with a
revised growth of 5.7%.
For the month of January, the NSO said Japan, including Okinawa, was
the country’s top export destination, with total receipts of $579.98
million or 16.2% of total earnings. This was 49.9% higher than last
year’s $387.03 million.
The United States came in second with export receipts of $574.95
million, followed by Singapore ($345.08 million), Germany ($299.11
million), China ($296.69 million), and Netherlands ($246.21 million).
Higher-than-expected
Economists said local exports are likely to rise by double-digits in
the next months after January’s stronger-than-expected growth and in
line with global recovery.
“It’s a little better than expected. The growth is consistent with the
growth we’re seeing in the Asian region, indicating that the global
recovery continues. (Growth could) fluctuate month to month, but the
current trend should continue,” David Cohen of Action Economics
(Singapore) said.
“Going forward, I think we’re still going to see strong exports growth.
Global demand is slowly recovering because we are also seeing strong
exports among the Asian countries, primarily to China. Growth will
still be double digits,” noted Kenneth Cheng of Informa Global Markets.
The Philippines expects exports to grow 7-9% and imports to rise 13-15%
in 2010. In 2009, exports fell 21.9%, better than a government forecast
of a 25% fall.
The main industry body for electronics and semiconductors expects the
sector’s exports to climb 10-15% this year, driven by demand from
consumer electronics manufacturers, particularly in China, after a
22.2% fall in 2009. With a report from Reuters
The Philippines provides about 10% of the world’s semiconductor
manufacturing services, including for mobile phone chips and micro
processors.
With a report from Reuters
