THE Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (Seipi) is looking to maintain its target of 5-percent to 7-percent growth in exports this year, even as demand for electronics exports counters overall export decline.
“The demand for automotive, consumer and industrial products are still driving the growth, so the general guidance is still 5 percent to 7 percent,” said Dan Lachica, Seipi president, at the sidelines of a meeting with the Department of Trade and Industry.
Exports of electronics have been bucking the trend of decreasing merchandise exports in the first few months of the year. As of February, value of total exports was at $4.5 billion, a 3.1-percent decline over the same month in 2014.
Electronic products exports, however, during the same month notched a 4.8-percent increase over February of 2014, to rest at $1.97 billion.
By major groups of electronic products, Components and Devices (Semiconductors), comprised 29.5 percent of the total exports and shared the biggest with export earnings worth $1.33 billion, an improvement of 16 percent from $1.149 billion recorded in February 2014.
However, Lachica said revision of the target following the performance of electronics in the first quarter may be premature, as other electronics subsectors may not be enjoying the same robust demand.
The contraction of overall exports, the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. had earlier said, is due to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s key policy rates at its current level, and the prolonged effect of the port congestion, which led to the cancellation of export orders.
Electronics last year was cited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) as the saving grace of the India pale ale export growth.
Electronics was among the commodities unaffected by the port congestion as these were shipped by air. Exports of Peza, as of November of 2014, grew by a measly 3.11 percent to $40.51 billion.