Philippine exports grew by 22.8 percent year-on year-in September to nearly $4.8 billion, the National Statistics Office Tuesday reported.
On a monthly basis, exports expanded by about 26 percent from the estimated $3.8 billion posted last August.
The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) both noted how, amid the sluggishness of the global economy, Philippine exporters emerged as the strongest performers during the period among those in Southeast Asia.
The Philippines emerged on top of countries in the region that posted positive exports growth in September. These include Hong Kong, with exports up 15.8 percent; Vietnam with 15.6 percent; Taiwan with 10.4 percent; China with 9.9 percent; and Thailand with 0.2 percent.
On the other, Japan’s exports went down by 11.8 percent; Indonesia by 9.4 percent; Singapore by 4.8 percent; and South Korea by 2 percent.
“The strong export performance mainly reflected the moderate improvement in global economic activity as industrial production and business confidence indicators showed signs of recovery,” said Neda deputy director-general for planning and policy Emmanuel F. Esguerra.
The Philippines is only one of four East Asian economies that posted positive growth in the first nine months of 2012. The others were Vietnam, China and Hong Kong.
The total volume of outbound shipments in September increased by 47.3 percent year-on-year. It was also up by 152.6 percent from that of the previous month.
Likewise, cumulative merchandise exports in the first nine months of 2012 grew by 7.2 percent to $40.067 billion, from the $37.376 billion posted in the same period last year.
The increase in the value of shipments of commodities —such as tuna, metal components, fresh bananas, woodcrafts and furniture, ignition wiring set and other wiring sets used in vehicles, aircrafts and ships, petroleum products, coconut oil and electronic products—largely accounted for the growth, according to government data.
But electronic exports grew by only 1.1 percent in September, after experiencing five consecutive months of contractions.
Japan was again the top destination of exports from Manila, accounting for 30.8 percent of total export receipts. The United States followed, with a share of 12.6 percent; China, with 11.1 percent; Hong Kong SAR, with 7.5 percent; and Singapore with 7.1 percent.
“Improved overall demand for the country’s manufactured exports was mainly due to the generally favorable developments in global industrial production, with new orders further showing signs of expansion following persistent declines,” Esguerra said.
He explained that the nearly flat performance of electronics shipments was brought about by weak sales of processing units due to consumers’ growing preference for lower-end desktop PCs and notebooks over higher performance models due to the state of the global economy.
Still, Senen M. Perlada of DTI’s Bureau of Export Trade Promotion expressed optimism that Filipino exporters would attain their targets “to double total exports to $100 billion by 2016.”