The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said that the Philippine electronic sector is "evidently" recovering, following the 9.1 percent increase year-on-year of merchandise exports in February this year.
"The electronics sector is evidently recovering, even catching up with the export figures from two years ago,” said DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual in a statement on April 17.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)'s preliminary data, merchandise exports grew by 15.7 percent to $5.9 billion in February this month compared to $5.1 billion recorded in the same month in 2023.
Including the export performance in January, merchandise exports for the first two months of the year rose by 12.3 percent to $11.8 billion from $10.5 billion in the same period last year.
Exports of electronic products grew by 26.8 percent to $3.4 billion in February, driven by the 31.9 percent jump in semiconductor exports, reached $2.65 billion.
Pascual said the consistent two-month performance "marks a promising start to the year for the Philippine export sector."
“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,” he added.
The government, as part of the Philippine Development Plan, is working towards strenghtening the semiconductor industry by pouring in more investments geared towards enhancing local capacities for back-end semiconductor operations like testing, assembly, and packaging.
This has been a priority focus of the country's strategic partnerships with countries like the United States, who have shown support for the growth of the local semiconductor sector.
Notably, the Philippines is one among six other countries to receive funding from the US through its CHIPS and Science Act, improving the capacities of the Philippine within the US' international supply chain.
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