Exports contract in January

MANILA, Philippines - The country's merchandise exports contracted by 0.5 percent in January, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced on Tuesday.

"The negative growth was mainly brought about by the decrease of five major commodities out of the top 10 commodities for the month and these were: other manufactures; woodcrafts and furniture; chemicals; metal components and coconut oil," PSA noted.

Electronic products remained as the county's top export, accounting for 46.8 percent of the total. This was followed by machinery and transport equipment, other manufactures, woodcrafts and furniture and articles of apparel and clothing accessories.

Japan was the country's top export destination, followed by the United States, China, Hong Kong and Singapore.