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THE
decline in the growth of electronic and apparel
shipments has caused the country’s export earnings to
only slightly increase by 2.3 percent in May, based on
the latest data released by the National Statistics
Office (NSO) on Thursday.
Export
earnings in May amounted to $4.224 billion only,
slightly higher than the $4.128 billion posted in May
2007. This, however, was a decline of 2.3 percent from
April’s $4.325 billion.
The NSO
said the month-on-month decline in exports may be
attributed to the decline in the export of crude coconut
oil.
Merchandise export earnings from January to May
increased by 3.1 percent to $21.085 billion from $20.452
billion in the same five-month period in 2007.
“All
major commodity groups registered higher exports than
last year except for mineral products, which declined
minimally as copper prices in the world market have
started to taper down,” Acting Socioeconomic Planning
Secretary Augusto Santos, however, said in a memorandum
to the President.
Total
receipts from the country’s top 10 exports reached
$3.236 billion, or 76.6 percent of the total exports.
Accounting for 58.6 percent of the aggregate export
revenue in May 2008, electronic products posted a
decline of 3.4 percent to $2.474 billion from $2.561
billion in May 2007. Further, compared with the previous
month’s level, electronic exports showed a 1.8-percent
decline from $2.519 billion posted in April.
The NSO
said this may be due to slowing demand for electronic
products, particularly components/devices
(semiconductors), which posted a 7.1-percent decline to
$1.873 billion from $2.016 billion in May 2007.
Exports,
which also made it to the top three in May, are cathodes
and sections of cathodes of refined copper, and articles
of apparel and clothing accessories.
The NSO
said cathodes and sections of cathodes of refined copper
was the country’s second top earner in May 2008, with a
3.7- percent share and an aggregate receipt of $155.14
million. This represented a 16.2-percent increase over
the $133.52 million posted in May 2007.
Apparel
and clothing accessories followed as the third top
earner in May 2008 with total revenue of $150.18
million, or a combined share of 3.6 percent. This,
however, is the export which posted the steepest decline
among all exports, dropping 17.7 percent from $182.43
million in May 2007.
Meanwhile, around 83 percent of total receipts consisted
of exports of manufactured goods in May 2008, which
reached $3.507 billion, or a 1.5-percent increase from
$3.455 billion in May 2007.
The top
three exported manufactured goods were agro-based
products, mineral products and export receipts from
special transactions.
Income
from all agro-based exports in May 2008 went up by 3.6
percent to $218.63 million, from $211.13 million in May
2007. The NSO said this may be owed to increased fresh
banana exports.
In a
statement, the National Economic and Development
Authority said agro-based product exports increased
despite lower volume shipments of coconut products,
which were induced partly by lower demand from Europe.
“However, higher coconut prices in the world market
resulted in higher value for the country’s coconut
exports. Pineapple products, bananas, sugar products and
other agro-based products, such as tobacco and seaweeds,
also helped buoy exports,” Santos said.
Earnings
from mineral products in May 2008, on the other hand,
reached $272.58 million, or a 6.5-percent share of the
total export revenue. The NSO said this, however, was a
0.1-percent decline from $272.95 million posted in May
2007.
Export
receipts from special transactions, meanwhile, posted a
share of 3.1 percent of the total export earnings. These
posted a 31.8-percent increase to $132.12 million from
$100.26 million in May 2007.
On the
other hand, total export receipts from the country’s top
10 markets for May 2008 amounted to $3.603 billion, or
85.3 percent of the total.
The
United States remained the Philippines’ top export
market for May 2008 with export receipts of $675.59
million. This accounted for 16 percent of the aggregate
export income for the month, or a modest increase of 2.7
percent from $657.60 million in May 2007.
Japan
followed as the second top market of the country for May
2008 with export earnings of $665.40 million or a 15.8
percent share of the total exports. This represented a
22.1 percent increase from $545.18 million in May 2007.
The
People’s Republic of China emerged as the third biggest
market for May 2008, with shipments amounting to $502.05
million or 11.9 percent of the total exports, an
increase of 8.6 percent from a year-ago level of $462.22
million. |
