Exports tumbled 11.4 percent in June from a year ago, as the fragile global economy led to lower demand for machinery and transport equipment, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed Wednesday.
This marked the 15th straight month of export contraction, following a 3.8-percent decline in May.
The National Economic and Development Authority said weak demand for major exports, including electronic products, pulled down the total export revenues. Electronic products declined 5.1 percent to $2.42 billion in June.
Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said the competitiveness among industries should be improved to offset the exports drop. “We must continue to improve our efforts in ensuring an enabling environment where industries can upgrade and improve their competitiveness,” Pernia said.
Bank of the Philippine Islands associate economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa said the expected exports to rebound in the remaining months of 2016.
“I do expect some rebound in exports toward the end of the year as the US is projected to grow strongly, possibly offsetting the weakness in our other trade partners like China and Japan,” Mapa said in an e-mail.
Meanwhile, PSA said factory output rebounded 8.5 percent in June, with basic metals and transport equipment materials leading the expansion.
“This signifies an improvement from the subdued growth in 2015 and reflects the sector’s strong production growth since the beginning of the year. The upswing in net sales performance was also a result of sustained domestic demand in the country,” said Pernia.
PSA said the manufacturing sector’s growth was supported by higher production of construction-related capital goods, particularly basic metals, transport equipment and machinery, as several infrastructure projects of both the private and public sectors continued to be implemented.
Manufacture of transport equipment posted a double-digit growth as domestic demand for vehicles, particularly heavy-duty vehicles used in infrastructure development remained strong.
