Semiconductor sector urged to add more value to its goods

The Department of Trade and Industry has urged the electronics and semiconductor industry to add more value to the goods manufactured and assembled here, to make Philippine exports more competitive in the global market.

“To provide value to whatever we manufacture or assemble in the Philippines, we have to make a decision on which part of the value chain we want to move into,” said Senen M. Perlada, director of DTI’s Bureau of Export Trade Promotion (BETP).

“We either go more into design, research and development, innovation, standardization or we move more into logistics, marketing and brand or a combination of those to add to whatever we are doing now,” Perlada explained.

Perlada also challenged the country’s exporters, who are members of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (Seipi), to increase the local content of exported goods from the current  30 percent to as much as 70 percent.

Perlada made the address during an information session conducted by the BETP, through its Doing Business in Free Trade Areas (DBFTA) program in partnership with Seipi, the Tariff Commission and the Bureau of Customs.

The session held earlier this month was attended by 52 representatives from semiconductors and electronic companies, government and the academe.

This was the second session conducted by the BETP as requested by Seipi.