Total merchandise export earnings in the country, amounting to US$ 4.176 billion in March 2010, registered a 43.7 percent increase from US$ 2.907 billion in the same period a year ago, according to the latest Foreign Trade Statistics (FTS) of the National Statistics Office (NSO).  Likewise, exports expanded by 17.0 percent in March vis-à-vis the US$ 3.570 billion export earnings in February this year.

Electronic products remain as the country’s top export commodity, accounting for 57.9 percent share of the total export revenue during the period.  Its earnings grew by 49.1 percent at US$ 2.416 billion in March 2010 compared to a revenue of US$ 1.620 billion in the same month a year ago. Other commodities in the list of top ten Philippine exports include: (a) articles of apparel and clothing accessories; (b) cathodes and sections of cathodes of refined copper; (c) coconut oil; (d) ignition wiring set and other ignition wiring sets used in vehicles, aircrafts and ships; (e) woodcrafts and furniture; (f) metal components; (g) other products manufactured from materials imported on consignment basis; (h) tuna; and (i) copper concentrates.

Among the top ten exports, five commodities posted year-on-year growth of more than 100 percent with copper concentrates posting the highest growth rate at 273.7 percent, followed by coconut oil at 212.9 percent; metal components at 147.1 percent; ignition wiring set and other wiring sets used in vehicles, aircrafts and ships at 145.8 percent; and cathodes and sections of cathodes of refined copper at 113.6 percent. 

The United States of America (USA) is the top importer of Philippine products in March 2010, cornering 16.8 percent share of the aggregate export earnings in the country, closely followed by Japan with 16.3 percent share.  Other large export markets for Philippine products include the People’s Republic of China with 11.7 percent share, Hong Kong with 8.6 percent share, and Singapore with 8.2 percent share.

Merchandise exports include exports of goods and monetization of gold while total exports consist of total merchandise exports and exports of services.    Data on merchandise exports are generated by the NSO while data on monetized gold and exports of services are sourced from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), except for travel services, which is sourced from the Department of Tourism (DOT).

Monthly statistics on merchandise exports 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 352, data on exports should be made available 45 days after the reference month.  The NSO released the March 2010 data on exports on May 12, 2010 as scheduled in its 2010 Advance Release Calendar (ARC) while three days in advance as per EO 352. 

For further inquiries on merchandise exports statistics, please contact Ms. Rosie B. Sta. Ana, Chief of the Economic Indicators and Indices Division of the NSO, at telefax numbered 716-3935 and email address r.staana@census.gov.ph.

Links to data sources:

http://census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2010/ex1003tx.htm
http://census.gov.ph/data/sectordata/2010/ex100301.htm

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* what-iS-TAT? box contains snippets of official concepts and definitions, related surveys, censuses and administrative-based record systems, standards and classification systems, statistical laws and other legal provisions, NSCB Board Resolutions, and other related information on statistics.

Links to the information on what-iS-TAT?:
Merchandise Export Price Index: http://www.nscb.gov.ph/technotes/lei/lei_tech1q10.asp
Composite Leading Economic Indicator (LEI): http://www.nscb.gov.ph/pressreleases/2010/PR-201001-ES4-03_LEI.asp
NSCB: http://www.nscb.gov.ph