As reported by the National Statistics Office (NSO), the total merchandise exports estimated at US$4,071 million in August 2007 dropped by 4.8 percent compared to US$4,274 million in August 2006.

Electronic products, the country’s top export which comprised 63.7 percent of the total exports, plummeted to negative 4.0 percent compared to 14.9 percent growth in the same month last year. Other commodities in the list of top ten exports, which accounts for 16.6 percent of the total, include (a) articles of apparel and clothing accessories (b) petroleum products; (c) woodcrafts and furniture; (d) ignition wiring set and other wiring sets used in vehicles aircrafts and ships; (e) coconut oil; (f) other products manufactured from materials on consignment basis; (g) metal components; (h) fresh bananas; and (i) cathodes & sections of cathodes, of refined copper.

In terms of contribution to the negative growth in exports, the biggest share came from electronic products at 2.6 percentage points followed by cathodes and section of cathodes, of refined copper at 1.9 percentage points. Other products manufactured from materials on consignment basis and articles of apparel and clothing accessories also contributed to the negative growth at 0.6 percentage point each.

Among the top ten exports, coconut oil posted the highest increment at 45.5 percent compared to the same month last year. Other top gainers were woodcrafts and furnitures at 18.6 and fresh bananas at 16.1 percent. On the other hand, cathodes and section of cathodes of refined copper, other products manufactured from materials on consignment basis and articles of apparel and clothing accessories declined by 71.4 percent, 33.8 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively.

The biggest markets for exports in August 2007 were the United States of America with 18.8 percent share, Japan with 15.3 percent share, and China with 11.4 percent share. Compared to 2006 figures on percent share, USA exhibited a decline of 0.2 percentage point while Japan and China posted an increment of 0.5 and 1.5 percentage points, respectively.

Monthly data on merchandise exports are generated from the compilation of foreign trade statistics which is one of the designated statistical activities of the NSO under Executive Order No. 352, Designation of Statistical Activities That Will Generate Critical Data for Decision-Making of the Government and the Private Sector, issued on July 1, 1996. Per EO, data on exports should be made available 45 days after the reference month. The NSO released the August 2007 data on exports on October, 2007, 40 days after the reference month. It may be noted that the top ten exports listed in the NSO foreign trade statistics are different from the top merchandise exports in the national accounts which are based on the 1988 list of top exports to maintain the national accounts link series over a period of time. For further inquiries, please contact Ms. Rosie B. Sta. Ana, Chief of the Economic Indicators and Indices Division of the NSO, at telefax numbered 716-39-35 and e-mail address r.staana@census.gov.ph.

Link to data source: http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2007/ex0807tx.html