Inbound shipments of electronic goods surged by 40.5 percent in January to November 2015 from a year ago, Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI) President Dan Lachica said.
Lachica said imports bill of the industry from January to November 2015 increased to $18.9 billion from $13.5 billion in the same period in 2014.
Imports in the previous year expanded as inbound shipments of eight out of nine product sectors of the industry increased.
?Office equipment had the biggest growth rate at 52.5 percent, from $81.6 million to $124.4 million. Other sectors that increased were the following: communication and radar at 45.9 percent, semiconductors at 43.5 percent, telecommunication at 43.1 percent, control and instrumentation at 41.8 percent, medical and industrial instrumentation at 31.4 percent, electronic data processing at 20.8 percent, and consumer electronics at 16.5 percent,? the SEIPI chief noted.
Only the automotive electronics contracted its imports bill by 1.8 percent to $19.05 million.
For November 2015 alone, electronics imports bill amounted to $2.13 billion, surging by 69 percent from November 2014?s figure of $1.26 billion.
Electronics industry accounted for 35 percent of the country?s total imports in November last year.
The country?s top sources of electronic products in November 2015 were Taiwan, accounting for 15.8 percent of the industry?s imports; United States of America, 14.9 percent; China, 13.6 percent; Japan, 11.5 percent; Singapore, 10.2 percent; and Taiwan, 15.8 percent.
Other top imports partners include South Korea which shared 7.8 percent of the total electronics imports; Thailand and Hong Kong, both with 5.3-percent share; Malaysia with 4.9-percent share; and Germany with 2.8-percent share. — PNA
