RP missing out on ASEAN opportunities?

The Philippines, on the other hand, sourced 16.8% of its imports from ASEAN member states in 2009, roughly double the 8.8% share the region cornered ten years back.

Experts reckon the trade imbalance partly stems from the makeup of the Philippines’ export portfolio, which caters more to nonASEAN members. More importantly, it could also be due to the country’s inability to attract investments that would have made it a more active player.

“Your disadvantage is you’re concentrated in one industry,” said Ganeshan Wignaraja, principal economist of the Asian Development Bank’s off ice of regional economic integration.

Roughly two-thirds of the Philippines’ export sales are brought in by electronic components, most of which are shipped off to non-ASEAN members Taiwan, Japan and China for further assembly.

Finished goods like furniture, garments, and processed food, meanwhile, mostly bypass the region as the Philippines’ niche in higherpriced products find more willing consumers in richer economies.

“And there are more investors in other ASEAN countries,” Federation of Philippine Industries President Jesus L. Arranza said.

As such, neighbors like Thailand enjoy higher export sales as they have been selected by multinationals as production hubs to supply the region, he explained.

In the automotive industry, for instance, Thailand continued to lead the pack last year by churning out 1.2 million cars for both domestic and export markets while the Philippines only assembled 50,000 units, data from the Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines showed.

The gap could widen as the local arm of Ford Motor Co. has announced that it would start manufacturing Focus sedans in Thailand instead of the Philippines by 2012, although it is reportedly mulling a new model for assembly here.

And while the country boasts of its own share of manufacturing operations — Nestlé Philippines and Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing, Inc., among others, ship out products to the rest of the region — this is dwarfed by investments in other ASEAN members.

Last year, the Philippines lured only 5.3% of the $36.803 billion worth foreign direct investment that flowed into the region, according to United Nations data.