PhilExport sees 2012 shipments below 8% target

The Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (PhilExport) on Thursday said outbound shipments will likely grow by 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent in 2012, citing latest data released by the National Statistics Office.

 

The multisector Export Development Council and the Department of Trade and Industry projected exports growing at 8 percent for 2012.

 

“Our good guess is that the full-year exports is at 6.5 percent to just over 7 percent. The best that can happen is that it would hit 7.5 percent,” PhilExport president Sergio Ortiz-Luis told GMA News Online. 

 

Exports need to expand by 13 percent in December to hit 7.5 percent. 

 

On Thursday, the NSO reported exports receipts totaled $3.551 billion last November, up 5.5 percent  from the same month in 2011 but down 19.4 percent from October 2012. 

 

The latest figure brought the aggregate merchandise exports to $48.03 billion in the first 11 months, up by 7.0 percent from $44.90 billion a year earlier.

 

Despite growth in the electronics sector – the country's top exports – Ortiz-Luis claimed that shipments in non-electronics shrunk largely on slower demand from China.

 

“The ones that were contracting were the non-electronic products, mostly those produced by small- and medium-scale exporters, said Ortiz-Luis.

 

“Their exports to China was decreasing and their products were less competitive because of the strong peso,” he added. 

 

According to latest NSO data, the top export losers in November were Bananas (down by 51.7 percent), gold (falling 32.3 percent), pineapple and pineapple products (dropping 27 percent), coconut oil (losing 27.1 percent), and articles of apparel and clothing clothing (decreasing by 13.1 percent). 

 

Still, Ortiz-Luis is looking at 2013 as a positive year for exports. “This year will be better,” he said, adding that any growth in 2012 exports will be a “sharp reversal” from the 6.9-percent contraction in 2011.  

 

Ortiz-Luis, a member of the EDC, noted the for revisions in the export targets. 

 

“We will review our targets once the full-year data comes out. The council should revise targets if it still wants export receipts to reach $120 billion by 2016,” he said. 

 

To hit the goal in 2016, the EDC targeted shipments to grow by 10 percent to 11 percent a year starting in 2012. — VS, GMA News