The Department of Trade and Industry through its Export Marketing Bureau sees solid growth for Philippine merchandise exports this year as it continues to expand by 11.68% with total sales of $53.11 billion for the period January-October 2017 compared to the same period last year with total $47.55 billion of export sales.
For ten straight months, the value of merchandise exports in the review period was shared almost evenly by electronics and non-electronics at 50.78% and 49.22%, respectively.
In a preliminary report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Year-On-Year (YOY) growth for October 2017 showed the country’s total export sales increased by 6.6% from $5.04 billion last year to $5.37 billion this year supported by the double-digit growths of six out of top ten major Philippine exports including fresh bananas.
Six gainers for October 2017 exports sales include gold (297%), electronic equipment and parts (43.3%), metal components (21.9%), fresh bananas (20.8%), other mineral products (19.6%), and electronic products (13.8%).
Receipts for top ten major exports for October 2017 reached $4.25 billion with a total share of 79.2% of the total export receipts. Electronic products led the top ten commodities with total export sales of $2.86 billion, accounting for 53.2% of the total exports revenue for the month of October 2017.
“Export sector is a big employment generator and we welcome these positive developments as this will translate to more job opportunities,” said DTI Undersecretary for Trade and Investments Promotion Group Nora K. Terrado.
Japan remains as the top export destination for October 2017 with total exports receipt of $871.36 million and a share of 16.2% in total exports.
“Japan is a significant trading partner for the Philippines. We are maximizing good relations that we have with them by introducing and increasing awareness of various design-driven products and services that we can export. We are also seeking new markets while we continue to expand our exports to existing trading partners. DTI continues to apply new approaches and strategies based on trends and changing consumer landscape,” explained Terrado.
Meanwhile, the leading destination of PH merchandise exports for the first ten months of the year was still the combined markets of PROC (China) and HK SAR (Hong Kong). Shipments to this combined markets, with a share of 24.31%, increased by 22.10% in value.
By regional bloc, East Asia remains the top regional export destination for Philippine merchandise exports comprising for 51% share in total exports sales while ASEAN ranked second with 16% share for the month of October 2017. Exports to European Union remain rosy with total sales of $677.94, an increase from $549.20 million in October 2016.
Recently, DTI unveiled the Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy or i3s that aims to grow and develop globally competitive and innovative industries. With this, DTI aims to increase production capacity of the country’s industries as well as introduce and develop innovative and creative products and services viable for exports.
