Gov’t sticks to 5% export growth target

Despite the marginal rise in exports during the first eight months, the government is banking on the recovery in the US and Japanese markets this quarter to meet the five percent growth target this year.

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said several key indicators abroad showed signs of a rebound, particularly in consumer demand in the main US market.

He cited that US retail sales of leading chains such as WalMart have been picking up, growing by eight to 21 percent since June.

"We only have to maintain our strategy of market expansion and product diversification," Roxas said.

He noted that export growth in the country’s other major products and services has been steadily growing, posting a combined growth of 12 percent in the first eight months.

These include food, furniture, motor parts, marine products, wearables, information technology-enabled services, giftware and holiday decors.

"This part of our business only needs to grow by 15 percent by yearend to push our overall growth to five percent," Roxas said.

The growth contribution, Roxas added, already takes into account the flat performance in the electronics and semi-conductor exports, the country’s main shipment accounting for over 60 percent of total export earnings.

Total exports fell for a second straight month last August, bringing total exports in eight months to $23.002 billion, only a tad higher than the $22.967 billion export revenues a year ago.

"Holiday consumer spending across all markets and the (traditional) increases in year-end inventories... will almost certainty enable our electronics business to get through this patch," Roxas said.

The US remained the country’s biggest market in August, accounting for 20.83 percent of total exports. Trailing the US were Japan, the Netherlands and Hong Kong.