(CNN Philippines) — Philippine merchandise exports declined for a third straight month, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
A report from the agency released on Wednesday (April 8) showed that February 2015 exports were down by 3.1% year-on-year.
The country’s export earnings amounted to $4.5 billion in February 2015, compared to the $4.7 billion recorded in the same month last year.
The figure follows drops recorded in the months of December and January, at 3.2% and 0.5%, respectively.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said that February’s contraction was predominantly caused by markedly lower year-on-year revenues in agro-based products (-20.1%), and petroleum products (-51.5%), as well as a drop in the earnings of manufactured goods (-1.8%).
There is also the issue of a regional export slowdown.
In a statement, economic planning secretary Arsenio Balisacan mentioned that a majority of the major economies in East and Southeast Asia registered negative export performance in February 2015, with the exception of China.
“This partly mirrors the still fragile global economy, which is reflected in the country’s weal turnout of merchandise exports on the back of lower demand from the country’s major partners, Japan and China,” Balisacan said.
PSA’s figures show that Japan receives the largest share (20.9%) of Philippine-made goods, followed by the U.S. (16.2%) and China (9.9%).
Likewise, electronic products remain as the country’s top export, consisting of 43.7% of the total exports in Februray 2015.
Semiconductors in particular take the lion’s share of total exports (29.5%). The industry’s export performance bucked the month’s general trend, having posted a 16% growth to P1.3 billion from P1.1 billion during the same period last year.
Nevertheless, Balisacan remained cautious of what could be another decline: “Forward estimates of manufacturing activity for both Japan and China suggest another slowdown in March. Global commodity prices also continue to decline, potentially reducing revenues from agro-based and mineral exports in the succeeding period.”
“Further improvements in infrastructure and logistics should also continue to support the export manufacturing sector. Likewise, concerns on the stability of power supply should be addressed,” he added.
