RP projected to sustain export growth

MANILA, Philippines - Brokerage firm Philippine Equity Partners Inc. sees the strong growth in merchandise exports last December being sustained in the coming months on the back of the gradual recovery of the global economy.

Philippine Equity Partners said in a research note that the 23.5-percent growth in export earnings in December, the fastest pace in nearly four years, could be sustained over the next few months.

“Expect the export numbers to show remarkable growth in the coming months, but this is largely coming off a depressed year-ago base,” the brokerage firm added.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) reported last week that the country’s export earnings amounted to $3.304 billion in December last year, 23.5 percent more than the $2.675 billion registered in the same month in 2008.

The hefty increase came primarily from a 41-percent surge in shipments of electronic products.

Receipts from the country’s second top exports, particularly articles of apparel and clothing accessories, slumped 17.8 percent year-on-year while shipments of coconut oil grew 14.4 percent.

“The two export product groups that remained weak through December 2009 were the more traditional farm and garment exports,” Philippine Equity Partners said.

Other major exports were automotive wiring sets that jumped 85.3 percent; woodcraft and furniture that fell 16.1 percent; copper concentrates that went up 739.2 percent; and petroleum products that surged 118.9 percent.

Major destination of Philippine-made goods last December include the United States that accounted for about 19 percent of total shipments, followed by Japan with 15.4 percent and Netherlands with 8.9 percent.

Despite two straight months of positive growth, the country’s merchandise exports plunged 21.9 percent to $38.327 billion in 2009 from $49.078 billion in 2008 due to the full impact of the global economic meltdown.

Philippine exports started to slow down in September 2008 and had since posted contractions before recovering in November last year with a 5.7-percent growth.

This year, economic managers, through the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), expects exports improving between six percent and nine percent resulting to a faster gross domestic product (GDP) expansion of between 2.6 percent and 3.6 percent from last year’s 0.9 percent.