Gov’t confident of hitting trade growth targets

The government remains optimistic that its would be able to meet its trade growth targets of 10 percent for this year, a ranking Cabinet official said.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general Romulo L. Neri said the sustained growth in imports, especially in electronics products and capital goods, indicates that the momentum for expansion continues to grow.

"The government expects imports to increase by 10 percent this year," Neri said.

The NEDA chief noted that payments for foreign-made merchandise rose 6.32 percent to $2.994 billion, led by strong imports of semiconductors and consumer goods. Except for imports of mineral fuels and lubricants, all categories increased their output from last year’s levels.

Semiconductor imports jumped 18.7 percent to $1.075 billion, pulling up the total electronics products imports by 17 percent.

Other electronic products also grew, such as medical/industrial instrumentation (74.2 percent), consumer electronics (43.2 percent), automotive electronics (29.7 percent), telecommunication (22.3 percent), and electronic data processing (13.7 percent).

Computer chip giant Intel, for instance, recorded profits that doubled to $1.7 billion, while electronics firm Texas Instruments more than doubled its net income to $367 million. Both transnational companies have operations in the country.

The improvement in manufactured imports, however, was not shared by agriculture products.

Imports of unprocessed raw materials plunged 26.9 percent, pulled down by wheat (-37.8 percent) and metalferous ores (-51.5 percent). Imports of corn increased from January, but fell from last year’s level by almost 50 percent. Local importers are discouraged by high prices of corn in the world market, which averaged $123.5 per metric ton (MT) in February from $115.5/MT in January and $105.4/MT last year.

Neri noted that consumer spending continues to be a major source of growth for the economy, as imported consumer products rose 34.4 percent year-on-year.

Imports of cars and motorized cycles inched up 7.1 percent and home appliances soared 115 percent from last year, while imports of non-durables, such as dairy products and fruits and vegetables, went up 46.8 percent.

Meanwhile, Neri forecasts that higher exports to Japan and Asian countries in the coming months is expected to further boost exports growth, after posting a 7.5 percent growth to almost $3.0 billion.

Growth of merchandise exports improved to 7.5 percent in February from 4.1 percent in January 2004. The present growth rate is also better than the 6.1 percent growth in February last year.

"This brings the year-to-date growth to 5.8 percent, roughly half the government’s exports target growth of 10 percent," he said.

Exports of manufactured products rose 7.6 percent, led by electronics products (6.6 percent) and machinery and transport equipment (30.5 percent).

Agro-based products grew 10.9 percent, led by coconut oil (37.4 percent), bananas (3.9 percent), shrimps and prawns (nine percent).

However, the overall export performance was dragged by the decline in garments.

The Garments and Textiles Exports Board reported that export volume to the United States declined 10.7 percent while shipments to Europe accelerated 23.9 percent.

Japan overtook the US as the number one export destination, as exports to the world’s second largest economy expanded by 24.9 percent. The US, on the other hand, absorbed 16.4 percent less. Other Asian economies reversed the shortfall in US-bound exports: Hong Kong (23 percent), Singapore (23.1 percent), China (43.7 percent), and Malaysia (10.7 percent).