The strong peso has continued to take its toll on the country’s exports after the same dropped in November due to the slowdown in electronic shipments.
The National Statistics Office (NSO) said November exports dropped 2% to $3.951 billion from $4.031 billion in the same month last year.
The decline, which comes after a double-digit growth a month earlier, pulled down growth for the first 11 months to 4.76% — way below the target growth of 8% for 2007.
Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc. (CCBI) president and Nonpareil company president Rolando Quiambao told PortCalls the export industry is, however, expected to rebound particularly if the peso stabilizes at the P40 to a dollar range.
“Exports are really affected by the strong peso. However, it doesn’t mean that (export-oriented companies) are no longer earning. Their profit margins have been reduced but they continue to earn,” Quiambao said.
“We, in the custom brokerage profession and the freight forwarding industry are hoping that the peso will taper off as its growth in the last few months has been really fast… majority of companies operating in the country were caught unprepared for such a condition,” Quiambao said.
Electronics, which accounted for 61.3% of the total shipments in November, remained the country’s top export. However, shipments dropped 4.5% to $2.422 billion from $2.535 billion in the same month in 2006.
The second-largest exports were Articles of Apparel and Clothing Accessories, which also declined 20.6% to $158.76 million from $200.02 million in November 2006. The sector accounts for 4% of the combined share of total exports.
The third-biggest exports were Cathodes and Section of Cathodes of Refined Copper, which dipped 38.1% from $157.63 million in November 2006.
Petroleum Products ranked fourth, with export receipts of $89.84 million, or a year-on-year growth of 52.4% from $58.93 million in November 2006.
Woodcrafts and Furniture ranked fifth, with sales amounting to $87.13 million, or a growth of 13.2% from $76.98 million in November 2006.
Rounding up the list of the top 10 exports for November were Ignition Wiring Set and Other Wiring Sets Used in Vehicles, Aircrafts and Ships; Coconut Oil; Gold; other Products Manufactured from Materials Imported on Consignment Basis; and Metal Components.
The US remains the Philippines’ top market, with export receipts of $749.54 million, up 2.9% from $728.31 million in November 2006. It was followed by Japan with $592.53 million; the People’s Republic of China, $435.71 million; and Hong Kong, $394.37 million.
