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AS the demand for semiconductors turned a corner, the country’s export earnings posted a 16-month high in February 2024, according to the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The Philippine Export and Import Statistics in February 2024 showed the country’s export earnings jumped 15.7 percent, the fastest growth it recorded since the 20.6 percent posted in October 2022.
The last time the country’s exports posted double-digit growth was 15 months ago, in November 2022 when earnings from the shipment of local products grew 14.1 percent.
“So I think we’ll have to look at and continue to track what happens with the advanced economies and the export markets, the key export destinations that Philippines exports to,” Asian Development Bank (ADB) Philippines Country Director Pavit Ramachandran told reporters in a briefing on Thursday.
“So that I think will be, you know, will have an impact in terms of the export numbers. As you say, that’s already probably been reflected to a certain extent in the revised figures,” he also said.
On Thursday, the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi) said it is already seeing some “modest” growth based on global market demand. (https://businessmirror.com.ph/2024/04/11/seipi-banks-on-global-market-demand-to-see-modest-growth/).
The country’s top exports are electronic products which, in February 2024, posted growth of 26.8 percent. This was driven mainly by the growth in Components/Devices or commonly known as Semiconductors which rose 31.9 percent.
Earnings from the country’s electronic product shipments amounted to $3.42 billion in February 2024. Of this amount, semiconductors accounted for $2.64 billion during the period.
“The commodity group with the highest annual increment in the value of exports in February 2024 was electronic products with $723.86 million,” PSA said in a statement.
PSA said the year-to-date annual total value of exports, that is from January to February 2024, amounted to $11.84 billion.
This represents an annual increase of 12.3 percent from the year-to-date annual total export value of $10.55 billion in January to February 2023.
Meanwhile, the country’s import receipts grew 6.3 percent to $9.55 billion in February 2024 from $8.98 billion in February 2023.
Electronic products, which accounted for $1.92 billion of the import bill, contracted 10.2 percent in February 2024. The bulk of these imports are semiconductors.
Receipts for semiconductor imports contracted 17.8 percent to $1.3 billion in February 2024 from $1.58 billion February 2023. This accounted for the bulk of the country’s electronic product imports during the month.
The year-to-date annual total import value, that is from January to February 2024, amounted to $19.88 billion.
This represents an annual decrease of 0.5 percent from the year-to-date annual total import value of $19.98 billion in January to February 2023.
“On the export of goods and services, we expect a rebound in the second half of the 2024, particularly in the second half, as we see that the global cyclical downturn in electronics is coming to an end,” ADB Philippine Country Office Principal Country Specialist Cristina Lozano said.
“And as we know, the Philippines is a country that is very well established in terms of being an exporter of electronic components. So we’re positive in that regard and also the services sector with the tourism, improving the BPO services, et cetera,” she added.
Markets, sources
By major trading partner, exports to the United States of America comprised the highest export value amounting to $947.83 million or a share of 16 percent to the country’s total exports in February 2024.
Completing the top five major export trading partners for this month were Japan with $849.17 million or 14.4 percent of total export earnings; and Hong Kong, $774.03 million or 13.1 percent.
This was followed by earnings from shipments to the People’s Republic of China which reached $695.25 million or 11.8 percent of the total and Thailand, $282.01 million, 4.8 percent.
For imports, China was the country’s largest supplier of imported goods valued at $2.18 billion or 22.8 percent of the country’s total imports in February 2024.
Other top sources of imports were Japan with $845.23 million or 8.8 percent of the country’s total import bill and the Republic of Korea, $719.9 million or 7.5 percent of the total.
This was followed by Indonesia with import receipts amounting to $664.57 million or 7 percent of total; and Thailand with $660.86 million or 6.9 of the total import bill.
The PSA data showed that in February 2024, the country’s total external trade in goods amounted to $15.46 billion, indicating an annual increase of 9.7 percent from the $14.09 billion total external trade in the same period of the previous year.
In January 2024 and February 2023, total external trade in goods registered annual decreases of 1.1 percent and 14.3 percent, respectively.
“Of the total external trade in February 2024, 61.8 percent were imported goods, while the remaining were exported goods,” PSA said.
The balance of trade in goods (BoT-G) is the difference between the value of exports and imports. The BoT-G in February 2024 widened to $3.65 billion, indicating a trade deficit of 6 percent.
In January 2024 and February 2023, the trade deficit recorded annual decrements of 21 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
Image credits: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
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