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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
PHILIPPINE sales of goods abroad
fell in March on flagging electronics
shipments and weak exports to the United States.
The National Statistics Office (NSO)
on Friday reported that export earnings that month slipped 6.8
percent to $4.181 billion from $4.487 billion in the same period
last year.
The March performance caused
first-quarter exports to inch up by 2.7 percent to $12.524 billion
from $12.201 billion in the same three-month period last year. This
is slower than the government’s full-year target of an 8-percent
expansion.
Electronics shipments, which
accounted for 58.5 percent of the total receipts in March, fell 17.4
percent to $2.444 billion from $2.958 billion in the same month last
year.
“This may be due to the
slowdown in the demand for electronic products especially on the
[electronics] components/devices,” the NSO said.
The Philippines’ second
top-earner, articles of apparel and clothing accessories, also
suffered a 9.5-percent contraction to $166.77 million from $184.21
million in March last year.
The third top-earner, woodcrafts
and furniture, however defied the overall trend, with receipts
rising 11.9 percent to $108.23 million from $96.74 million last
year.
Rounding up the list of the top
exports for the month were cathodes and sections of cathodes of
refined copper, $94.98 million; petroleum products, $86.23 million;
ignition wiring set and other wiring sets used in vehicles,
aircrafts and ships, $86.09 million; coconut oil, $81.42 million;
other products manufactured from materials imported on consignment
basis, $67.27 million; and gold, $36.22 million.
Receipts raised from the sale of
the Philippines’ top 10 products reached $3.218 billion, or 77
percent of the total.
Japan toppled the US as the
Philippines’ biggest market, after sales to the North American
country inched up by only 1 percent to $683.12 million from $676.6
million year on year.
Shipments to Japan reached
$710.92 million, rising by 18.5 percent from a year ago, and
accounting for 17 percent of the total earnings for the month.
Sales to the People’s Republic
of China amounted to $549.15 million, up 13.2 percent from $485.02
million a year ago.
Other top markets for March were
Hong Kong, $423.35 million; the Netherlands, $279.67 million;
Republic of Korea, $188.35 million; Singapore, $182.68 million;
Malaysia, $181.09 million; Germany, $176.93 million; and Taiwan,
$153.59 million.
Receipts from the Philippines’
top 10 markets for March amounted to $3.529 billion or 84.4 percent
of the total.
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