As reported by the National Statistics Office (NSO), the total merchandise exports was estimated at US$4.2 billion in January 2008, up by 6.4 percent compared to US$4.0 billion in January 2007.

Electronic products, the country’s top export, which comprised 61.5 percent of the total exports, decelerated to 1.6 percent from 12.6 percent registered in the same month a year ago. Other commodities in the list of top ten exports, which accounted for 18.2 percent of the total, include (a) articles of apparel and clothing accessories (b) coconut oil; (c) petroleum products; (d) cathodes and sections of cathodes of refined copper; (e) woodcrafts and furniture; (f) ignition wiring set and other wiring sets used in vehicles, aircrafts, and ships;  (g) metal components; (h) gold; and (i) other products manufactured from materials imported on consignment basis.

In terms of contribution to the growth in exports, the biggest share came from coconut oil at 2.8 percentage points, followed by electronic products, and petroleum products at 1.0 percentage point each, while gold contributed 0.9 percentage point.

Among the top ten exports, coconut oil posted the highest growth rate at 618.7 percent compared to January last year. Other top gainers were gold at 451.4 percent and petroleum products at 57.8 percent. On the other hand, other products manufactured from materials imported on consignment basis, cathodes and sections of cathodes of refined copper, and articles of apparel and clothing accessories dropped by 32.7, 28.0, and 15.7 percent, respectively.

The biggest markets for exports in January 2008 were the USA with 16.2 percent share, Japan with 14.9, and Hongkong with 13.0.  Compared to January 2007 figures on percent share, Hongkong inched up by 1.6 percentage points, while USA and Japan declined by 1.2 and 0.4 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 January 2008 data on exports on March 11, 2008, earlier by five days than the target date of release.  It may be noted that the top ten exports listed in the NSO foreign trade statistics are different from the principal 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/2008/ex0801tx.html