PH shipment of Electronic Products continues to grow in February, better than industry estimates
Export Marketing Bureau (EMB)
April 15, 2016
PH Electronics exports grew by 6.5 percent in the first two months of 2016 compared to the same period last year. The growth is higher than the industry?s revised forecast growth range of 2 to 5 percent for full year 2016.
Electronic Products which posted YTD growths include Telecommunication with 185.4 percent, Consumer Electronics with 81.2 percent, Communication and Radar with 38.3 percent, and Semiconductors with 8.6 percent. Semiconductor products cornered more than half of total Electronic Exports, with 57.7 percent share.
However, the decline in exports of Office Equipment (54.6 percent), Medical/Industrial Instrumentation (24.9 percent), Automotive Electronics (22.0 percent), Control and Instrumentation (21.4 percent), and Electronic Data Processing (4.9 percent) dampened the performance of the sector.
Electronics major component of PH?s exports, accounted for slightly more than half of PH exports in the first two months of 2016.
PH exports of Electronic Products are expected to grow in 2016, although still on the low side at a single-digit projected growth range. According to the Semiconductor & Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI), the Philippine electronics exports are expected to grow by 2 to 5 percent this year despite persistent concerns on the health of the global economy. The SEIPI upgraded its initial 0 to 4 percent forecast announced in February this year.
On a Year-on-Year (YOY) basis, outward shipments of Electronics also grew by 8.1 percent.
In YTD terms, the 13.0 percent decline in of PH shipments of non-electronic products pulled down the gains achieved by PH Electronics during the first two months of the year.
Total PH exports declined by 4.2 percent in the first two months of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015, amid the continuing weakness in global demand.
?Although the Jan-Feb YTD is still a decline, it is still slightly an improvement over the full year decline of 5.6 percent in 2015. It is still too early in the year that to say that merchandise exports is headed for a decline in 2016,? Senen M. Perlada, Director of the Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), a bureau under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), said.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Global growth, currently estimated at 3.1 percent in 2015, is projected at 3.4 percent in 2016 and 3.6 percent in 2017. The pickup in global activity is projected to be more gradual than in the October 2015 World Economic Outlook (WEO), especially in emerging market and developing economies.
The IMF also said that prospects for global trade growth have also been marked down by more than 0.5 percentage point for 2016 and 2017, reflecting developments in China as well as distressed economies
Electronics is one of the ?Key Export Sectors? under the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2015 ? 2017 whose implementation is being led by the DTI.
“That’s why all the more the execution of the strategies under PEDP becomes even more crucial because it provides focused programs, activities, and projects that address the opportunities and challenges of our export sector,” Perlada pointed out.
?The President has approved PEDP 2015-2017 and the Export Development Council (EDC) will review all relevant policies, promotions programs and projects to ensure the successful implementation of the plan by a concerted effort of the public and the private sector that constitute the EDC,? Perlada said.
The EMB has lined up several activities intended to further the expansion of the Electronics sector, including business matching activities through participations in the Semicon Taiwan, Electronica in Germany, and SEIPI-PSECE (Philippine Semiconductor and Electronics Convention and Exhibition) in June 2016. The PSECE is the biggest annual convention and exhibition of the leading technology companies in the Philippines.
Moreover, the EMB and the EDC are closely engaged in the Technical Working Groups (TWGs) crafting the new implementing rules and regulations (IRR) that the PNP will use to enforce the streamlined rules and regulations covering controlled chemicals, which are used by industries, including the Electronic sector. The streamlined IRR is intended to address the slowdown in production of finished products due to the slow, tedious, and costly processes in the approval and releases of certificates of authority (CAs) which provide certain exemptions in the use, possession, handling, and movement of controlled chemicals. ?