Exports post 11th straight month of decline in September

Export receipts dived 18.3 percent from a year earlier to $3.63 billion in September to mark the 11 straight months of double-digit contraction as sales of electronics products remained weak, government data released yesterday showed.

The decline is, however, moderating and shipments were up 4.6 percent compared to the previous month, the National Statistics Office said in a statement.

Electronics, which accounted for 62 percent of the nation’s September exports, fell 13.2 percent from the previous year but rose 9.3 percent from the previous month to $2.25 billion.

Copper, petroleum products, and garments were the biggest losers for the month, it added.

For the nine months to September, exports fell 29 percent to $27.64 billion, with electronics shipments down 30 percent to $15.98 billion.

Neda nevertheless said the September contraction was the slowest since November last year.

“On a year-on-year basis, merchandise exports dropped by 18.3 percent in September, marking the 12th month of consecutive decline. It is worthwhile to note that this is the smallest contraction since November 2008,” Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos said in his memorandum to the President

According to Santos, the month-on-month increase was supported by increased shipments of total agro-based products, petroleum, and electronic products. The 25.5 percent increase in exports of agro-based products, particularly coconut products and sugar, drove the 14.6 percent increase in total agro-based product exports. Weaker exports of other agro-based products (-9.7 percent) such as fish, abaca fibers, unmanufactured tobacco, natural rubber, and seaweeds tempered exports growth.

Meanwhile, petroleum products exports this September increased both in value and volume compared to the previous month, soaring by 327.2 percent and 336 percent, respectively.

Exports of manufactured goods increased by 4.3 percent, led by the increase in electronic products (9.3 percent). Semiconductors, which made up 71.5 percent of electronic exports in September, grew by 12.2 percent. Improvement in the shipment of electronic products benefited from the worldwide rebound of sales of semiconductors.

Better semiconductor exports are also expected in the coming months. Santos noted from the report of the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International the optimistic book-to-bill ratio of semiconductors which settled at 1.17 for September, wherein booked orders settled at $732.8 million compared to billed orders of $ 624.6 million.  –Daily Tribune