Return to pre-crisis exports seen

EXPORTERS expect this year’s shipments to match pre-crisis levels with growth coming from nontraditional destinations. In a statement, Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr., Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) president, said exports by yearend would reach about $50 billion, up by 30 percent from $38.4 billion last year.

At end-October, exports hit $43.047 billion, or 37.1-percent higher than the $31.397 billion in the same 10-month period last year, as electronics shipments climbed to $26.490 billion—a 46-percent jump year-on-year.

The country’s exports, about two-thirds of which were semiconductor and electronics, skidded last year amid the global recession.

“Unless a shooting war between the two Koreas erupts this month, and our exports to both South Korea and North Korea suddenly stop, the export industry shall have staged a full recovery to the 2007 record by the end of this year,” said Ortiz-Luis.

Ortiz-Luis said the sector’s rebound was boosted by the strong growth of shipments to Asian markets, which are recovering faster than the Philippines’ traditional trading partners such as European Union member-states and the US.

“Exports to the United States and Europe continued to decline until September this year, an indication that the economies of these countries have not yet recovered.

In contrast, sales to the Asean trade bloc have reached 30 percent. And for the whole of East Asia, Philippine exports already represent close to half of all exports at 41 percent,” the industry official said.

Exporters should tap the huge prospects in China, India, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East, Ortiz-Luis said.

“China and India alone have a combined population of 2.5 billion people, millions of them getting more prosperous each day. We need to find out what we can produce in abundance that the Chinese and Indians may want to buy,” he said. –BEN ARNOLD O. DE VERA REPORTER, Manila Times