The Philippine merchandise exports started out strong this year, reflecting an increase of 8.9 percent, amounting to US$6.04 billion this month as compared to US$5.55B in January 2021.
The figure even surpassed the 2020 pre-pandemic level by 4.16 percent, equivalent to US$ 5.8B.
The numbers were based on the preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, which exemplified continuous growth for 11 months since March 2021.
Trade Sec. Ramon Lopez cited the encouraging recovery in most of the country’s global markets, especially prior to the Ukraine crisis as well as the earlier reopening of the export sector which were allowed 100 percent operating capacity even during the height of the pandemic.
Nearly half of the growth in exports for the month was driven by the increase in the country’s export of electronic products.
Consistent with the long-standing structure of Philippine merchandise exports, electronics remain to be the largest driver of export sales amounting to US$ 3.5B in total earnings this January which is equivalent to 58 percent of the total Philippine exports.
For January, the country’s top electronic exports were components or devices (semiconductors), electronic data processing, other electronics, consumer electronics, telecommunications.
Meanwhile, for agricultural products, coconut oil recorded the highest growth in January with exports increasing by 110.1 percent, amounting to US$178.8 million.
This has contributed 18.9 percent, which amounts to US$ 93.7M of the total export growth at the start of the year.
Likewise, coconut oil exports reflected an increase of 27.3 percent as compared to 2017 to 2019.
The increase in demand was driven by consumer trends, particularly the increased awareness of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle which are often attributed to products such as coconut oil.
Other major commodity groups that also contributed to export growth include other manufactured goods (53.4 percent), refined copper cathodes and sections of cathodes (46.0 percent), and electronic parts and equipment (6.8 percent).
The top five Philippine export markets for January were the United States, China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Exports to the US in January was US$ 935M while exports to China amounted to US$ 885M. – Press release
April 25, 2024
