Exports down 0.5% in January

MANILA, Philippines–Exports of Philippine-made goods slid for the second straight month in January, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday.

A preliminary PSA report showed that outbound shipments last January went down by 0.5 percent to $4.36 billion from $4.38 billion a year ago. The decline in export revenues in January followed December’s 3.2-percent drop, which was preceded by 10 straight months of growth.

In a statement, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) attributed the slow start of exports in 2015 to weaker demand for manufactured goods as well as slower petroleum sales even as shipments of agro-based products and minerals expanded.

“The decline is negligible compared to most trade-oriented economies in selected East Asian countries that posted negative outturns in merchandise exports during the period. This is also in view of weaker demand conditions and fragile manufacturing sectors in some of our major trading partners,” said Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan.

Neda noted that last January, export receipts of agro-based goods grew by 12.9 percent to $313.9 million from $278.2 million last year on the back of strong demand for coconut and sugar products.

As for minerals, shipments jumped to 34 percent to $201 million last January from $150 million in the same month of 2014 mainly due to higher sales of copper concentrates, copper metals, and iron ore agglomerates.

But a drag to the value of total exports last January was the 1.6-percent decrease in shipments of manufactured products such as chemicals, electronic equipment and wood manufactures to $3.8 billion from $3.7 billion in the previous year.

Balisacan also noted that export receipts from petroleum remained affected by the continued decline in global crude prices.