PH electronics imports up 14% in 1st quarter

The Philippines imported $4.38 billion worth of electronic goods during the first quarter—a jump of 14 percent year-on-year, according to the Semiconductor and Electronics Industry of the Philippines Inc. (Seipi).

The increase was driven by the double-digit rise in the values of five out of nine inbound products monitored, Seipi president Danilo Lachica said Thursday.

Electronic data processing (EDP) surged by 43 percent; telecommunications, 38 percent; automotive electronics, 23 percent; communication/radar, 19 percent; and components/devices 10 percent.

A sixth product category, medical/industrial instrumentation, also showed an increase in shipments of 1.2 percent.

On the other hand, importation of office equipment fell by 16 percent; control and instrumentation by 8 percent; and consumer electronics by 2 percent.

For March alone, electronics rose by 5.4 percent year-on-year to reach $1.27 billion.

“Electronic products were the top imported commodity in March 2015, accounting for [a quarter of the country’s] total imports,” Lachica said.

In March, seven out of the nine product categories showed a rise in import values, led by automotive electronics at 44 percent; telecommunication, 33 percent; and EDP, 27 percent.

Also rising by a single-digit pace were communication/radar, consumer electronics, office equipment, and components/devices.

Control and instrumentation, and medical/industrial instrumentation both fell by 19 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

On a month-on-month basis, electronic importation plunged 29 percent from the $1.78 billion seen in February.

“The decline in total imports for this period was due to the negative performance of three commodities,” Lachica said.

Shipments of components/devices fell by 35 percent; medical/industrial instrumentation by 21 percent; and telecommunication by 17 percent.

In March, the United States was the top source of electronics, accounting for 17 percent of shipments. Cargos from Singapore, Germany, China, Taiwan and Japan also registered double-digit shares imports.

Together, the top six sources of electronics represented close to three-quarters of the total imports last March.