A group of electronics exporters expects full-year sales to decline slower than the initial forecast of 20-percent slump, as bulk orders from overseas clients began to pick up.
The Semiconductor and Electronics Industry of the Philippines Inc. said instead of the 20-percent contraction, members of the group were now looking at a 16-percent drop.
SEIPI chairman Glen Everett noted an increase in orders since the economy reopened in June. Electronics exports plummeted by nearly a third in May.
“So if I go back to the Philippine electronics industry growth forecasts, simple number is minus 20 percent for 2020. Pre COVID-19 projection was 5 percent growth. And this year, we see among our members a general estimate of a contraction of 16 percent,” Everett said during the group’s general membership meeting.
“Most companies surveyed reported some sort of V shaped sales impact. Some are fast. Some are recovering quickly, some recovering slowly over the course of things,” he said.
Everett said if the industry would continue to respond to demands of the clients, there would be a better outlook for the fourth quarter.
Data showed that electronics exports dropped 2.61 percent in July to $3.35 billion from $3.44 billion a year ago. The sector accounted for 59.3 percent of total exports in July 2020.
Electronics exports fell 10.45 percent in June and 33.53 percent in May.
Everett said that while the COVID-19 impacted almost all sectors in the Philippines including the semiconductor industry, the global demand had increased at an average of 4.9 percent since the pandemic broke out.
“The global semiconductor market has remained largely resistant to global macroeconomic headwinds, at least in the first seven months of the year, but you see continued growth. Sales in the Americas and China have remained strong and increasingly significant especially for memory and non-memory products,” Everett said.
SEIPI president Dan Lachica said the Philippine electronics industry was trying to catch up with global developments as demand for semiconductors and electronics continued to improve.
“I believe that will improve over time because of the global demand. Notwithstanding the trade war, notwithstanding the challenges we’re facing, the electronics industry is still supplying the global demand, which is high, so we need to play catch up,” he said.
Lachica said some companies had repositioned a part of their production capacities to respond to the government’s call for localized manufacturing of essential products.
