Seipi slashes ’15 exports target

The Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (Seipi) has again slashed its targets as it expects exports of electronics products to hardly grow this year, due to the soft global market and the lingering economic woes in China.

Seipi president Dan Lachica said in an interview that the group was now looking at a maximum growth this year of 5 percent, or at worst, stay at the same level as last year amid volatility in the global market.

Just last month, the group slashed its export growth target to 3-5 percent, down from the initial forecast of 5-7 percent announced earlier this year.

“[This is] due to the soft global economy and China, in particular, which is among (the country’s) top export destinations. Hong Kong and China account for over 30 percent of exports,” Lachica explained.

The group, however, is still hoping for a better export performance in the second half to help boost the numbers for 2015.

The Philippines’ overall export performance for this year is expected to slow down as well, as the country is expected to take a hit from lackluster global economic conditions.

The Export Development Council earlier said it expected merchandise exports to grow minimally in 2015.

And even if current conditions improve, export revenues may still likely grow at a much slower pace of about 3-5 percent this year, way below the 8-10 percent export revenue expansion projected by the government earlier this year, EDC executive director Senen M. Perlada said in an earlier interview with the Inquirer.

“Our target of 8-10 percent will be too much of a stretch because we have less than three quarters to boost exports and for us to achieve that, growth should be a high double-digit growth. The problem also is that the global trade imports of our major trading partners are still on the negative like the United States, Japan, China and even Korea,” he had said.

According to Perlada, the industry expects non-electronics products as well as the Philippines’ inclusion in the generalized system of preferences schemes of both the European Union and the US to boost exports this year.

The EU GSP+ is a preferential trade scheme that allows over 6,200 product lines manufactured or made in the Philippines to be exported to the EU at zero duties.

The Philippines is currently the only Southeast Asian country accorded with this GSP+ status over the next 10 years or up to 2024.

The US GSP similarly provides duty free access for about 5,000 products.

Even Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo earlier admitted that the government would likely miss its 8-10 percent target growth for merchandise exports this year.

Domingo cited weak demand across the economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.