Electronics captured 42% of total PH exports in September

Electronic products remained the country’s top export in September, accounting for 41.7 percent of the Philippines’ total export revenue for the month, said the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (Seipi).

According to Seipi, exports of electronic products from January to September this year fell by 10 percent to $15.8 billion compared to the $17.6 billion posted in the same period last year.

Cumulative exports of “other electronics” similarly declined by 36 percent to $471.5 million during the same period, from $740.5 million a year ago.

On a month-on-month basis however, electronics exports showed improvements.

Seipi reported that exports of electronic products for September alone grew 12.8 percent to $2.1 billion from the $1.9 billion recorded in the same month last year, while exports of “other electronics” fell by 37.6 percent to $92.6 million during the same period.

Compared to the previous month, exports of electronic products in September grew by 17.8 percent from $1.8 billion in August 2013.

Exports of other electronics similarly grew by 25.7 percent from $73.7 million in August this year.

Seipi, however, expects the country’s electronics exports to contract by 10 to 12 percent this year, driven largely by a weakness in global demand, specifically for semiconductors.

While double-digit growth is seen in the automotive and consumer electronics sectors, weakness in semiconductors, which comprised 76 percent of the industry export, drove the contraction.

Seipi president Dan Lachica earlier said that the organization’s board decided to reduce its projections this year from the original target of a 5-percent growth, due also to dropping prices amid rising export volumes.

Despite this year’s export revenue contraction, however, Seipi is projecting a recovery in 2014, which may see a meager 5-percent growth in electronics exports, Lachica had said.

This forecast is based on lowering prices of semiconductors, which may be partly offset by the continuing strength in the automotive and consumer markets, as well as the incremental output from new investments.