Semiconductors, electronics top imports in Oct.

Semiconductor and electronic products were the country’s top imports in October last year, accounting for $1.247 billion or 26 percent of the total import bill for the month, according to the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (Seipi).

Seipi president Dan Lachica reported that this figure represented a 7.3 percent decline from the $1.3 billion import bill posted by the semiconductor and electronics industry in the same month in 2012.

Compared to the $1.8 billion posted in September 2013, the October import bill for electronics products dropped by 29.31 percent.

“Three of the electronics products sectors, namely semiconductors, office equipment, and control and instrumentation, contracted by double-digits,” Lachica said.

In the first 10 months of 2013, imports of electronics products similarly fell by 4.2 percent to $13.1 billion compared to the $13.6 billion registered from January to October 2012.

“The negative growth resulted from the decrease of the following electronic products—semiconductors, having the biggest share among the major groups; telecommunication; consumer; and automotive electronics,” Lachica said.

For October 2013, the Philippines’ top sources for electronics imports were the United States, accounting for 18 percent, followed by Taiwan, with a 13-percent share and Japan, 12 percent.

Other electronics sources were Singapore (11 percent); China (9 percent); Germany (8 percent); Korea (6 percent); Malaysia (5 percent); Thailand (4 percent); and Hong Kong (4 percent).

Seipi earlier reported that electronic products were the country’s top export in October, accounting for 43 percent of the country’s total export revenue for the month.