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PHL exports drop 12.8% in April — NSO
By SIEGFRID O. ALEGADO, GMA News
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(Updated 2:06 p.m.) Merchandise exports plunged in April, reversing a slight uptick a month earlier, on a continued slump in electronic shipments and other major products, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported Tuesday.
In a statement, the NSO said exports receipts in April amounted to $4.041 billion, down 12.8 percent from $4.328 billion a year earlier.
This is the steepest drop since February's 15.6 percent contraction, and a a reversal of the 7.6 percent growth in April 2012 and the 0.1 percent uptick in March 2013.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the slack in exports was due to the still weak global economy that continued to impact on global demand.
"The decline in exports reflects the weakness in the global economy," NEDA Assistant Director General Rose Edillon said in an interview at the sidelines of the release of the latest employment numbers.
"We are currently reviewing the targets amid current developments," she added.
The government wants exports to increase by 10 percent this year.
Jose Mario Cuyegkeng, economist at ING Bank in Manila, said the trade numbers may continue to dwindle amid weak external demand. "Exports data from other Asian countries is also showing weakness, so what we're seeing is more domestically driven growth in the region," he told GMA News Online in a phone interview.
As such, economic growth must rely on other sectors, particularly those that depend on domestic spending.
"Hopefully, the weakness in other sectors will be more than compensated for by others like domestic investment and infrastructure spending of the government," said Cuyegkeng.
The drop in exports, NSO said, was due to "negative growth... by six major commodities out of the Top 10 commodities for the month."
These are chemicals, other manufactures, machinery and transport equipment, electronic equipment and parts, metal components, and electronic products, according to NSO.
Electronic products, which account for 40.3 percent of total export revenues in April, went down by 0.4 percent to $1.630 billion from $1.635 billion year-on-year.
The April figure pulled exports in the first four months to $16.122 billion, down 8.0 percent from $17.514 billion a year earlier.
In April, Japan remained the top consumer of Philippine products, accounting for 23.3 percent of total shipments.
The United States and China followed, accounting for 15.1 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively of total export receipts in April. — VS, GMA News
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