Exports jumped 18.9% in November

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Philippine exports grew at a faster pace in November, driven by a spike in demand from key export markets like Japan, United States and China.

The export sector’s performance during the month substantiated views that global demand, after contracting in the first half of 2013, would pick up toward the latter part of 2013 and sustain the recovery through 2014.

It was, however, not enough to bring the cumulative export earnings close the full-year growth target of 10 percent.

The National Statistics Office reported Friday that the country’s exports hit $4.29 billion in November, up 18.9 percent year-on-year.

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, also director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), said improving global demand augured well for the Philippines’ manufacturing sector and the overall domestic economy.

“The buoyant export performance of manufactured products, driven primarily by electronics, reflects gains from the revival of the manufacturing sector as one of the Philippines’ growth drivers,” he said in a statement.

The country’s latest monthly export performance brought the total export revenues for the first 11 months of 2013 to $49.38 billion, up year-on-year by only 2.6 percent.

The government earlier conceded that the exports growth target for 2013 would be missed because of weak global demand in the first semester. Nonetheless, the government expects a recovery this year.

Balisacan said that despite the likely shortfall in the 2013 exports target, the Philippines was still the best performer in the region in terms of exports growth.

“We are the top export performer among trade-oriented economies in the East and Southeast Asian region,” he said.

Electronics remained the country’s top export earner, accounting   for $1.91 billion or nearly 45 percent of the Philippines’ total export revenues for November. The amount was up by 10 percent year-on-year.

The other top exports during the month were woodcraft and furniture (up 4 percent to $282 million), machinery and transport equipment (up 0.9 percent to $199 million), wiring sets for vehicles, aircraft and ship (up 42 percent to $156 million), and metal components (up 14.7 percent to $147 million).

Japan, which implemented various stimulus measures to accelerate a sluggish economy, was the top export market for Philippine-made goods in November as it accounted for $1 billion, up year-on-year by 37 percent.

United States, which resorted to pump-priming efforts by its central bank amid slow growth, came in second with $589 million of the export receipts for the month. Exports to the world’s biggest economy jumped year-on-year by 22.7 percent.

China was the third-biggest export market with $516 million, up 38.2 percent from a year ago.

Other top export markets in November were Hong Kong and Singapore, which posted growths of 9.8 percent to $410 million and 2 percent to $294 million, respectively.

For this year, the government has set an export growth target of 6 percent.