Philippine exports among Asia's top performers

MANILA, Philippines - The country's merchandise exports topped those of major economies in Asia by soaring to $5.849 billion in September, higher by 15.7 percent than the $5.056 billion posted a year ago.

“The country’s export performance for the last two quarters of 2014 culminated remarkably despite slower growth in July (12.4 percent) and in August (10.5 percent). From a peak of 21.3 percent in June 2014, the latest merchandise export growth outturn signals the rebound of the exports sector, even surpassing most economies in the region during the period,” said Deputy Director-General and currently National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Officer-in-Charge Rolando Tungpalan.

NEDA noted that the Philippines outperformed People’s Republic of China (15.3 percent), Vietnam (14.4 percent), South Korea (6.9 percent), Taiwan (4.7 percent), Indonesia (3.9 percent), Thailand (3.2 percent), Malaysia (3 percent), and Hong Kong (1 percent). Meanwhile, Japan and Singapore posted negative growth at -1.2 percent and -1.6 percent, respectively.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that electronic products remained as the county's top exports, accounting for 41.8 percent of the total exports revenue in September. This was followed by chemicals, other manufactures, machinery and transport equipment, and other mineral products.

Meanwhile, Japan was the country's top export destination with a revenue worth $1.734 billion and a 29.6-percent share of the total export receipts. This was followed by the United States, China, Hong Kong and Singapore.