Electronics sector gives exports big boost in Sept.

Export earnings in September exceeded analysts’ expectations, rising by 16.8 percent to $3.190 billion from $2.731 billion in the same month last year as demand for electronics surged by 17 percent to $1.69 billion, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported yesterday.

"It’s surprisingly strong..." said Craig Chan, senior strategist at 4CAST Ltd. "The market is looking for about 10.8 percent and we were expecting 11 percent year-on-year. It’s better than August so its quite a good number."

The NSO said it was the sixth consecutive month for exports to show an increase from a year earlier, after 15 months of decline, but analysts attributed the strong rise partly to the weakness of September 2001 exports, which were 22 percent lower than a year before.

For the nine-month period, exports amounted to $26.039 billion, or 8.8 percent higher than last year’s $23.934 billion.

"It seems to have been driven by electronics," Chan said. "Other parts of the region have also been pretty strong recently. If we look at Korea in October and September and Taiwan in September they were also strong," he added.

Unicapital Securities equities research adviser Erico Claudio said semiconductor exporters project a 10-percent growth in electronic shipments this year.

Given the mixed forecasts by semiconductor companies in the US, the main Philippine market, "it would be prudent at this time to stay on the conservative side in looking at exports growth," Claudio said.

Electronics components remained the country’s top export earner, accounting for 53 percent of revenue in September. This was followed by apparel and clothing accessories which grew 39.4 percent and accounted for 8.1 percent of total exports at $257.6 million.

Exports to the US, the Philippines’ biggest trading partner, were up 5.5 percent in September while shipments to Japan, another big market, rose 11.16 percent from a year earlier.

The two countries made up for about 40 percent of the country’s aggregate export receipts in September.

The jump in exports, however, came from trade with China and other Southeast Asian countries.

September exports to China rose by a dramatic 134.8 percent from a year earlier and to Hong Kong 86.4 percent. Exports to Malaysia were up 45.4 percent and to Singapore 16.7 percent.

Officials have said inter-Asian trade flows have supported the country’s export growth amid fragile economic recovery in the US.

But analysts were quick to point out that most of the goods going up to Asia eventually end up in the US market.

Another concern was the impact of the West Coast lockout on Asia’s trade with the US, analysts said.

"We still have to see the effect of the West Coast dockers strike.. It could be a drag in October though it should not change the trend for eight to 10-percent (export) growth this year," analysts said.

Other top exports for September include: other manufactured products, $50.51 million; coconut oil, $45.46 million; ignition wiring set for vehicles, aircraft and ships, $40.44 million; petroleum products, $31.30 million; and fresh bananas, $23.90 million. – With wire reports