By Jose Antonio Buencamino
Commercial Counselor, Philippine Trade and Investment Center-(PTIC)-Brussels
Jeoffrey Houvenaeghel
Trade Assistant, PTIC-Brussels
Market Development Update
Part three
THE eight product groups that declined and fell out of the top 20 by 2015 were sterile-suture materials, preparations of animal feed, air or vacuum pump parts, self-adhesive plates (sheets, film, foil, tape, strip and other flat shapes), fungicide products, products of esters of inorganic acids, wire and cable connections, and nucleic acids or salts.
There were eight new product groups in the top 20 in 2015. These are plastic products coated (unvulcanized or synthetic rubber), frozen boneless-chicken products, preparations of animal feed, mineral or chemical fertilizers, grinding or crushing machines, electrical- insulating fittings, machinery or apparatus parts, and medicaments containing hormones or steroids. These eight product groups had very low, nonexistent or declining growth rates prior to 2013.
In 2014 we see high growth rates throughout the following product groups: Plastic products coated (unvulcanized or synthetic rubber), 336 percent; frozen boneless-chicken products, 129 percent; preparations of animal feed, 34 percent; mineral or chemical fertilizers, 82 percent; grinding or crushing machines, grew from nothing to €4,600,033 in 2014; electrical-insulating fittings, 52 percent; machinery or apparatus parts, 100 percent; and medicaments containing hormones or steroids, 10 percent. Mobile cranes and work trucks had practically no trade from 2011 to 2014 and performed exceptionally well in 2015 with €3,15 million. This corroborates the trend that Belgian exports to the Philippines grew exponentially in the period 2013-2015.
Belgian imports from the Philippines
AN analysis of the top 20 product groups imported from the Philippines in 2010 and their performance from 2010 to 2015 revealed 10 out of the 20 remained in the top 20 in 2015. These product groups are desiccated coconuts, electronic-integrated circuits, regulating or controlling instruments, mucilage and thickeners, medical syringes, semiconductor devices, packaging good, carbonate products, crude coconut oil and prepared or preserved tunas/skipjack.
Electronic-integrated circuits and medical syringes are the only two product groups that had strong, consistent and steady growth over the years, while the other eight product groups performed rather inconsistently, e.g., declines in imports in one year and a rise in the next year.
The 10 product groups that declined and fell out of the top 20 are digital cameras, photosensitive semiconductor devices, mobile telephones, data-processing machines, bicycles, new pneumatic tires, products made of silicon, radio navigational equipment, men’s or boy’s clothing products and static converters with telecommunication use. (Some observers would describe these product groups as the established, traditional exports of the Philippines.)
There were 10 new product groups in the top 10 in 2015. These are sea-going tankers, air-cured tobacco products, electronic-integrated circuits with storage capacity, baked products, medical, tubular metal needles, printers and copying machines parts, polyethylene products, electronic integrated circuits, excluding multichip integrated circuits and storage capacity; flue-cured tobacco products and static converters without telecommunication use. All of these new product groups had an unprecedented increase of imports in the period 2014-2015 whereas before 2014, they performed relatively poorly or were nonexistent. The year 2015 was also the first year of implementation of GSP-Plus, a nonreciprocal, but conditional, trade scheme where the Philippines could export duty-free more than 6,700 products to the European Union. (Our previous editions in this newspaper featured the GSP-Plus.)
To be continued