Bloomberg News Under Amkor (Jan. 4, 2000)
Philippine November Exports Rise 19% From Year Ago (Update1)
Philippine November Exports Rise 19% From Year Ago (Update1)
(Adds economist comment from third paragraph, breakdown of
exports from 10th paragraph.)
Manila, Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Philippine exports rose 19
percent in November from a year earlier, as Intel Philippines
Corp. and other electronics makers shipped more goods to meet
surging demand.
Merchandise exports rose to $3.07 billion in the month from
$2.58 billion in November 1998, the National Statistics Office
said. From October, exports fell 11 percent. The figures are not
adjusted for seasonal variations.
``The figure isn't alarming. It's in line with forecasts,'
after a rapid rise in October, said Kaoru Yuchida, research chief
at DBP Daiwa Securities Philippines Inc.
Much of the Philippines owes its economic growth to booming
worldwide use of the Internet and telecommunications that has
sparked demand for computer chips, which account for 75 percent
of the country's electronics exports. The government expects the
economy expanded 3 percent in 1999 after 0.5 percent growth in
1998.
In October, exports surged 36 percent from a year ago, the
biggest gain in two and a half years. The surge has been powered
by companies such as Intel Corp. and Acer Inc., which expanded
factories in the Philippines to meet growing overseas demand for
electronics.
The Board of Investments, a Philippine agency that
distributes incentives to foreign investors, said yesterday Intel
was interested in building the nation's first wafer fabrication
plant.
Intel Investments
Intel has invested $500 million in the Philippines during
the past 23 years on factories that assemble and package chips --
a less sophisticated manufacturing process than wafer
fabrication. Intel today declined to comment on reports it will
spend $1 billion in the Philippines to build the plant.
Unlike South Korea and Taiwan, where the industry is
dominated by local companies, almost all producers in the
Philippines are either contract manufacturers or affiliates of
the world's major electronics makers. That bodes well for its
economy, given the rosy outlook for the global electronics
industry.
The top electronics exporters in the Philippines include
Intel Philippines, Texas Instruments, Amkor Technology Inc.,
Ionic Circuits Inc., Philippines Associated Smelting and
Refining, Integrated Microcircuits, Cebu Mitsumi Inc., Automated
Micro-Electronics Inc., Electronic Assemblies and Telefunken
Semiconductors, according to the Export Development Council of
the Philippines.
Chip Exports
November shipments of microcircuits and semiconductors rose
16 percent from a year ago to $1.58 billion. That was slower than
the 47 percent expansion registered in October from a year ago.
Sales of input-output peripheral units -- mainly disk drives
-- climbed 55 percent to $276 million. Clothing exports fell 15
percent from a year ago to $164 million.
Exports to the U.S., the nation's biggest market, rose 4.7
percent to $834 million in November. Shipments to Taiwan more
than doubled to $281 million. For January to November, exports
reached $32 billion, a gain of 19 percent from the first 11
months of 1998. |
