By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Reporter
THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it will review its exports targets after the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation, Inc. (SEIPI) revised its target for the year.
“We will have to revisit our targets given that 60% of our merchandise exports are electronics,” said Bianca Pearl R. Sykimte, director of the DTI’s Export Marketing Bureau, in a Viber message.
“Most likely we will release a statement after the National Exporters Week, or by the second to third week of December,” she added.
The DTI earlier projected exports of goods and services to grow by at least 5% this year, slightly more favorable than the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s projected export growth target of 1% for goods and 6% for services.
Last week, SEIPI President Danilo C. Lachica said in a television interview that the organization estimated a 9-10% contraction versus 2022 levels at its recent board meeting.
Asked to elaborate, he said in a Viber message that the contraction is the result of “inventory correction and lower global demand due to political and economic factors.”
For next year, he said that the outlook for electronics industry’s exports is flat.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that exports declined 6.3% to $6.73 billion in September.
In the nine months to September, export earnings amounted to $54.54 billion, representing a 6.6% decline from the same period last year.
The commodity group with the highest annual decline in September was electronic products which fell 9.4% to $4.09 billion.
The PSA is set to release the October International Merchandise Trade Statistics on Dec. 12.