$100-B Export Earning Seen This Year

The Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) said the country’s earnings from exports of goods and services this year could reach nearly $100 billion.

Photo Insert: Products that posted the highest growth were copper concentrates whose exports posted a growth of 173.9 percent; special transactions, 110.3 percent; fine jewelry, 109.8%; iron and steel, 106.2 %; other exports, 86.6%; and footwear, 85.4%.

Philexport president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. told reporters that the value of the country’s exports this year would still surpass last year’s receipts of $87 billion despite the 2-percent decline in export earnings in August.

“Last year, we made $87 billion, and this year my good guess is we’ll make [close] to $100 billion,” Ortiz-Luis said during a press briefing on the upcoming 48th Philippine Business Conference & Expo held in Manila.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has reported that the country’s export receipts declined by 2.0% while import payments jumped by 26%. PSA said electronic products remained the top export in August 2022 with total earnings of $3.66 billion, accounting for 57.1% of the total exports during the period.

However, electronic product exports contracted 1.6% in August. Semiconductors, which make up 41.9% of the country’s exports, also contracted 0.1% in August this year. Commodities posting the largest contractions were Cathodes and Sections Of Cathodes, of Refined Copper whose exports contracted 81.2%; Christmas decor, 62.7%; basketworks, 55.7%; gold, 47.8%; and iron ore agglomerates, 47.2%.

Products that posted the highest growth were copper concentrates whose exports posted a growth of 173.9 percent; special transactions, 110.3 percent; fine jewelry, 109.8%; iron and steel, 106.2 %; other exports, 86.6%; and footwear, 85.4%.

Last year, the PSA said earnings from the exports of goods reached $74.64 billion. This, PSA said, represents a 14.5-percent increase over 2020’s annual total export value. For next year, the Department of Trade and Industry said the government is targeting to raise receipts from the export of goods and services to $110 billion.

Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said in a statement on September 18, “We recognize the continuing challenges in the domestic and global trading environment and we hope to address the binding constraints to Philippine export competitiveness as we draft and implement the Philippine Export Development Plan [PEDP] for 2023 to 2028. The PEDP being drafted features a more robust analysis of our priority export products and its corresponding markets, wider stakeholder engagement, and a proactive legislative agenda.”

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