MANILA: Electronics and semiconductors, the top category in shipments accounting for 54.2 percent of total exports for the month, rose 9.3 percent from a year earlier, the statistics agency said.
Other key export sectors in November were woodcrafts and furniture which dropped 9.5 percent from a year ago; machinery and transport equipment that fell 54.1 percent; and other manufactures that declined 6.0 percent. Exports to Japan, the country’s top destination, decreased 1.8 percent to $1.09 billion from last year, while shipments to United States, the second biggest market, were up 5.1 percent.
Exports to third biggest market Hong Kong jumped 21.3 percent, while shipments to China, the fourth biggest market, slipped 24.4 percent. The industry group Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc, or SEIPI, had lowered its export growth target for 2015 to 0-4 percent from the 3-5 percent estimate previously.
The central bank said an improving global economy should boost Philippine exports by 5 percent this year while imports would grow 10 percent. The central bank sees no urgent need to change its monetary policy settings after headline inflation in December picked up more than expected to a seven-month high.
