Exports barely up in March

MANILA, Philippines - Merchandise exports posted a slight gain in March after two consecutive months of declines, driven by the positive performance of non-electronic products, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.

The NSO acknowledges that while exports improved slightly in March, the cumulative value of exports for the first three months of the year fell 6.2 percent to $12.080 billion from the same period last year.

The NSO reported yesterday that the value of merchandise exports went up 0.1 percent to $4.329 billion in March from $4.322 billion in the same month last year.

The gain in March reverses the contraction of 15.6 percent and 2.7 percent seen in February and January, respectively.

The NSO said the positive growth was supported by six major commodities out of the top 10 commodities for the month.

“These are other mineral products, other manufactures, metal components, woodcrafts and furniture, coconut oil and ignition wiring set and other wiring sets used in vehicles, aircrafts and ships,” the statistics agency said.

Shipments of electronic products which accounted for the largest share or 34.4 percent of exports for the month meanwhile, dropped 22.4 percent to $1.757 billion from last year.

The National Economic and Development Authority attributed the decrease in electronic product shipments to the shift from personal computers to mobile devices as well as sluggish shipments of semiconductors to China, Singapore, Hong Kong, USA and Japan.

The NSO said Japan was the top country destination for Philippine exports in March with its 18.5 percent share amounting to $801.69 million, 17 percent higher than last year.

University of the Philippines economist Benjamin Diokno said in an email Philippine exports have been struggling because of the appreciation of the peso which makes the country’s outbound shipments more expensive.

With the value of Philippine exports down in the first quarter, he said the prospects for meeting the government’s exports growth target is bleak.

“If based on the revised exports growth target of 10 percent, exports have to grow by 15.4 percent for the rest of the year. Based on recent exports performance, such strong growth is highly unlikely,” he said.

For his part, Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. president Sergio Ortiz-Luis, Jr. said in a telephone interview, the group is still hopeful the 10 percent growth in exports can be achieved this year.