Ecozone exports up 13% to $14.7-B in January-July

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) reported yesterday that export earnings of special economic zones reached $14.7 billion in the first seven months of the year, 13 percent or $1.76 billion more than the $12.94 billion earned in the first seven months of 2002.

The higher export earnings was primarily from electronic companies operating within the ecozones.

The top electronic firm which are operating in the ecozones include Amkor Anam Advance Packaging, Toshiba Information Equipment Inc., Texas Instruments, Intel Technology Philippines Inc., Fujitsu and Epson.

There are 48 privately-owned and operated ecozones while only four are controlled by the government.

The four government-controlled ecozones are located in Baguio, Mactan, Cavite and Bataan.

For the whole of last year, export earnings of locators in the ecozones amounted to $22.77 billion.

In 2001, the export earnings of the ecozones stood at $19.5 billion.