CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine export industry continues to struggle from weak global market demand, as it dipped 4.39 percent for the first semester of 2013 due to the dismal performance of electronic exports.
Total export performance of the country from January to June this year only reached US$25.6 billion versus the US$26.8 billion in 2012.
The country’s largest export contributor, electronic sector registered a decrease of 18.59 percent to US$25.6 million, from US$26.7 million in the same period of last year.
Latest record from the Bureau of Export Trade Promotion (BETP), of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) further revealed other export “losers†for the semester, such as shipbuilding, garments and textiles.
The shipbuilding exports generated only a total of US $2.15 billion, a 16.98 percent plunge from a year ago’s US$2.6 billion.
Likewise, the garments and textile exports registered a 13.75 percent performance decline, with only US$872 thousand exports for the period, compared to US$1.01 billion recorded in the same period of last year.
On the other hand, other export product categories showed encouraging performance results, such as agribusiness, motor vehicle parts, home-style/furnishings, wearables and fashion.
Marine and aquaculture exports showed an improvement generating US$478.7 million total export for the period, from US$320 million its registered in 2012.
Agribusiness’ sub-sectors like processed food and beverages, fresh food exports, and coconut-based products also showed positive performance for the first half of the year.
Mineral exports also marked an encouraging performance as it grew by 48.44 percent for the period, reaping a total of US$1.58 billion.
Surprisingly, the furniture, home decors, and gift-ware made a turnaround performance with 18.84 percent growth, registering a total export contribution of US$152.6 million, from US$128 million it registered last year.
Wearables and fashion related exports, like accessories, bags, shoes and jewelry also made an encouraging leap with 57.37 percent growth.
Meanwhile, the Philippines through the PhilExport already announced its preparedness to further build up export industries where it has competitive advantages and will enable the country to exploit opportunities arising from the ASEAN integration on 2015.
"It is important to note that the greater majority of our exports today are more and more being influenced by the dynamics of the global value chain," said PHILEXPORT President Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. in recent workshop-discussions on priming Philippine SMEs for the 2015 ASEAN integration.
Ortiz-Luis identified big-ticket items and winners such as electronics and semiconductors, automotives and machineries and consumer goods such garments, furniture and some agriculture-based product.
He said services, being largely call centers and shared services of multinational companies, are investment-driven and also form part of the global value chain.
Ortiz-Luis also cited the potential of creative industries particularly animation, movie making, book publishing and inter-active media.
He said the industry and its stakeholders aim to expand indigenous exports that utilize mainly local raw materials and make full use of the creative energies of Filipino artisans, artists and craftsmen.
These export products include fine and fashion jewelry and furniture and home furnishings.
However, the export leader underscored the bigger challenge posed by ASEAN 2015 in these sectors.
"We produce almost similar products with those of our ASEAN counterparts. But our edge can come from our workers' natural flair for design, creativity and commitment to quality and hard work," he said.
With this, Ortiz-Luis cited various programs aimed to address gaps in improving productivity and efficiency of the workers.
"This is imperative to help us comply with the regional and even global standards that are increasing in number and importance if manufacturers want to secure global markets," he said. —(FREEMAN)