EXPORTS DROP. Philippine foreign shipments dropped by 3% in December 2015 as six top export commodities reported a drop in sales in the same period, government data showed on Wednesday, February 10. (Wikipedia photo)
SURABAYA, Indonesia (UPDATED) – The Philippines reported a negative 3% growth in its total foreign shipments of manufactured goods in December 2015, a downtrend caused by a decrease in the performance of its six major commodities.
While total merchandise export sales in the period reached $4.66 billion, it failed to surpass the $4.802 billion value recorded in December 2014, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday, February 10.
The PSA said the six major commodities hit by negative export sales were articles of apparel and clothing accessories at -42.7%, chemicals at -39.2%, other manufactures at -23.8%, machinery and transport equipment at -17%, metal components at -16.5%, and electronic equipment and parts at -5.3%.
However, electronic products — the country’s top export manufactured commodity — maintained its momentum in December 2015, with total receipts of $2.529 billion or a 6.4% growth year-on-year. Electronic products accounted for the 54.3% of the total exports revenue in the said period.
Among other gainers were ignition wiring sets at 55.7% or 247.63 million, woodcraft and furniture at 24.1% or $250.89 million, and copper concentrates at 18% or $67.72 million.
Japan remains to be the country’s top export market, with shipment sales to the country reaching $939.17 million in the said period. Exports to Japan however, dropped by 7.7% from a $1.017 billion sales in December 2014.
This is followed by total shipments to United States of America at $687.33 million, a 3% growth from $677.05 million sales year-on-year.
Hong Kong, China, Singapore were the country’s other major export markets with total exports at $574.85 million (17.3%), $422.14 million (-22.7%), and $303.29 million (-18.4%), respectively.
When combined, the PSA said 49.7% of the country’s exports went to countries in Southeast Asia at $2.316 billion, albeit a decrease by 7.3% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, exports to countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations only reached $725.90 million or a negative 0.9 percent growth in the same period last year.
Shipments to European Union member countries grew by 35.5%, although total merchandise exports only amounted to $654.98 million. (davaotoday.com)
*(Editor’s note: We made changes in some of the terms used in the story to clarify that the exports data was referring to foreign shipments of manufactured goods, and not the entire goods exported by the Philippines abroad. We apologize for the confusion.)
