Philippine merchandise exports surged by 15.7% in February 2024, recording $5.9 billion compared to $5.1 billion over a year earlier, based on preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The significant growth is a promising indicator for the Philippine economy, driven largely by the robust upturn in the semiconductor industry.
The positive momentum continued into the first two months of 2024, with total merchandise exports rising by 12.3 % to $11.8 billion, up from $10.5 billion in the same period last year.
Electronic products, which constitute nearly 63% of the country’s exports, expanded by 26.8% to $3.4 billion in February 2024.
This growth was primarily driven by the 31.9% increase in semiconductor exports, which reached $2.65 billion, marking the highest value of semiconductor exports recorded in February over the past decade.
Similarly, global semiconductor sales also saw a significant 16.3% increase in February 2024, totaling $46.2 billion.
The Semiconductor Industry Association highlighted this as the largest year-on-year growth since May 2022, projecting a continued market growth throughout the year.
Among the Philippines’ top export markets, the United States, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, the Netherlands, and Taiwan recorded double-digit increases in imports from the Philippines.
Hong Kong notably recorded the largest increase, with imports growing by 45.6% year-on-year and 38.8% year-to-date.
In contrast, Singapore’s witnessed a significant decline in imports from the Philippines for both year-on-year and year-to-date periods.
“The robust export performance in February, following the year-on-year increase of 9.1% in the previous month, marks a promising start to the year for the Philippine export sector. The electronics sector is evidently recovering, even catching up with the export figures from two years ago,” said DTI secretary Fred Pascual.
“We are hopeful that this growth momentum will be sustained in the coming months. We will continue to collaborate closely with the private sectors, government agencies, and development partners to improve the Philippines’ export environment and build on this export growth,” the trade chief added.
