MANILA, Philippines — Majority of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country expect their exports to increase over the next 12 months, a study made by logistics company FedEx Express showed.
“Two out of three local SMEs say they will continue or even increase their export activities beyond the APAC region within the next year. We are pleased to see that more SMEs are growing their business beyond Asia Pacific with an increasing need for more sophisticated logistics solutions,” FedEx Express Philippines managing director John Peterson said during the presentation of the results of the study titled “Global is the New Local: The Changing International Trade Patterns of Small Businesses in Asia Pacific” yesterday.
Conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of FedEx Express, the results of the study for the Philippines were based on interviews with 500 local SMEs conducted between March and April this year.
The study showed exports on average account for 89 percent of Philippine SMEs’ total annual revenues with a combined value of $1.4 billion, higher than the APAC average of 71 percent.
It estimates there is a net benefit of $554,000 to the Philippine economy per SME per year.
Majority or 69 percent of Philippine SMEs export within the APAC region and 53 percent ship their products to other regions.
Within the APAC region, China, Singapore and Hong Kong are the SMEs’ top customers.
Outside the APAC region, the SMEs’ top markets for exports are India and the US.
While 59 percent of local SMEs surveyed prefer to source materials locally, they also import from other countries, with 53 percent importing outside APAC and 78 percent getting from within APAC.
The study also revealed 96 percent of SMEs use e-commerce to source goods and find new customers in other markets, and such accounts for 52 percent of total revenues.
Most or 73 percent of the SMEs surveyed said they expect their e-commerce business to rise next year.
Apart from e-commerce, 89 percent of SMEs also use mobile commerce and this generates 46 percent of their total revenues.
SMEs are likewise adopting new technologies with eight of out 10 saying they use both software automation (88 percent) and mobile payments (87 percent).
“We see the global trade footprint of Philippine SMEs is moving further afield as they start to think bigger in this thriving digital economy,” Peterson said.