Exports drop 10.8% on-year in October to $4.59 billion

The Philippine exports continued to decline in October, but at a much slower pace, amid the sluggish global demand, data from the statistics authority revealed yesterday.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the country’s merchandise exports dropped by 10.8 percent to $4.59 billion in October this year from $5.15 billion posted in the same month last year.

The contraction was mainly brought about by the decreases in seven major commodities out of the top 10 exports for the month, PSA said.

The October decline, however, is smaller compared with 25 percent in the previous month.

Electronic products, the country’s top export accounting for 52 percent, increased 7.3 percent to $2.388 billion from $2.227 billion in the same month last year.

Semiconductors, having the biggest share of 37.1 percent among electronic products, grew by 11.7 percent to $1.704 billion from $1.526 billion a year ago.

Other manufactures, with 7.2 percent share to the total export receipts, ranked second with value posted at $331.12 million. It recorded a decrease of 30 percent from October last year with value of $473.06 million.

Meanwhile, the third top export earner in October with export revenue of $303.56 million was machinery and transport equipment, but it went down by 18 percent year-on-year from $370.1 million.

Woodcrafts and furniture ranked fourth, with sales amounting to $284.36 million, contributing 6.2 percent share to the total export receipts. It registered a 43.2 percent increase from the previous year level of $198.61 million.

Ignition wiring set and other wiring sets used in vehicles, aircraft and ships was recorded as the country’s fifth top export earner with value at $172.71 million or 3.8 percent share to total exports. It went up by 5.1 percent from $164.28 million in same period of 2014.

In October, exports to Japan, the country’s top destination, fell 7.7 from last year, while shipments to United States, the second biggest market, were down 13.1 percent.

Exports to third biggest market Hong Kong fell 4.3 percent form last year, while shipments to China, the fourth biggest market, dropped 31.6 percent from last year.

Earlier, the industry group Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI) had lowered its export growth target this year to zero percent to four percent from the three percent to five percent estimate made in July.