BSP expects better exports performance in 2013

With electronics exports currently enjoying a robust book-to-bill ratio, the country's exports should perform better this year, an official of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said over the weekend. The book-to-bill ratio is the ratio of orders received to units shipped and paid. "If you look at [electronics'] book-to-bill ratio, it has reached 100 percent. It means the order now is outstripping the delivery. So that will be a good indicator of what exports figures would be two or three months later. When we move forward for the rest of the year, we would see better export performance," said BSP deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo. Guinigundo said the book-to-bill ratio rose to 1.14 in January from .92 in December and .75 to .79 in November. A ratio of above 1 indicates strong demand, with more orders received than filled. "This is very encouraging,” said Guinigundo. “The last time we had more than 1 was in February, March, April and May 2012." The slowdown in global demand led to a dip in electronics exports in mid-2012, before exports began to tick up again in September after five consecutive months of decline. However, Guinigundo added that 2012 was still better than 2011 because the book-to-bill ratio was less than one in only three months of the 12. “If this trend will continue, we'll be seeing better export performance in 2013. And this is what we projected this year... 10 percent for exports," he said. Electronics account for about half of the Philippines' exports, with the top electronics product being the semiconductor. The National Statistics Office earlier reported that merchandise exports dropped by 2.7 percent year-on-year to $4.01 billion in January, led by the decline in electronics shipments. However, the figure is still an improvement over the $3.971 billion registered in December last year. — BM, GMA News