Exports grew 11% to $5.2B in March

Merchandise exports sustained their positive annual growth last March at 11.2 percent, the second consecutive month of double-digit growth after the revised figure of 11.6 percent in February, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Friday that total export receipts totaled $5.2 billion in March, up from $4.7 billion in the previous year due to sales of manufactured goods, agro-based, forest and mineral products.

For the first quarter of 2014, exports totaled $14.3 billion, higher by 6.5 percent from $13.4 billion in the same period last year.

Japan remained the top destination of Philippine exports in March 2014 with a total value of $1.3 billion, accounting for 25 percent of our country’s total revenues from merchandise exports.

Other top markets for Philippine exports were US (13.7 percent), China (10.7 percent), Hong Kong (7.9 percent), Singapore (7.5 percent), Germany (4.6 percent), South Korea (4.5 percent), Thailand (3.8 percent), Taiwan (3.5 percent), and the Netherlands (3.3 percent).

“Manufactures remain as the major contributor to export growth. Accounting for 84.5 percent of our total merchandise exports, this means that we are riding the wave of a sustained expansion in global manufacturing activity,” said Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan.

The PSA reported that export earnings from manufactured goods reached $4.4 billion, up 13.5 percent from $3.9 billion registered in March 2013.

Balisacan noted that the performance of manufactured goods was mainly due to increased outbound sales in diverse commodities such as electronic products, machinery and transport equipment, wood items, processed food and beverages, non-metallic goods, furniture and fixtures, textile yarns and fabrics, and garments.

Apart from manufactures, total agro-based products also managed to sustain a robust growth in March, with exports valued at $469.2 million, or up 22.1 percent from $384.3 million in March 2013.

“Higher domestic production of banana, mango and pineapple in the fourth quarter of 2013, along with strong demand from Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Middle East and the United States boosted the export volume of these goods,” Balisacan said.

“The Philippines’ sugar quota commitment with the US also contributed to higher export volume of sugar products in March 2014,” added Balisacan, who is also director general of the Neda.

He said the Philippines shipped 45.3 million kilos of sugar to the US after being unable to export sugar since November 2013 due to the effects of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” and the Sugar Regulatory Authority’s (SRA) earlier decision to trim down the sugar allocation for exports.

Meanwhile, forest products registered export gains amounting to $9.9 million in March 2014, higher by 76.1 percent in the same month last year. “The higher international prices of other forest products and logs may have contributed to the gains in the exports value of these commodities,” Balisacan said.

He added that export revenues from mineral products, which grew by 0.8 percent, could be traced to Japan’s demand for strong export volume of iron ore.

Meantime, the PSA reported lower export income from petroleum products in March at $17.5 million. This was lower by 76.5 percent compared to $74.3 million in March 2013.