Exports are growing slower than expected due to supply chain disruptions caused by geopolitical tensions.
But Sergio Ortiz-Luis, president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc., remains confident the country can achieve its downgraded exports medium-term forecast of $120 billion in 2025 originally set for 2020 before the pandemic.
Ortiz-Luis expressed hope the country can further develop processed minerals enhance its product mix which has been dependent on electronics.
“Exports are growing very slow,” Ortiz-Luis said in a press conference announcing the conduct next month of the Philippine Business Conference yesterday.
Ortiz-Luis declined to give the forecast for 2023 as numbers have been “dynamic in the past months.”
He, however, said growth “is not (going to be) dramatic” as a result of geopolitical tensions affecting the country’s biggest trading partners to the extent that the supply chain is impacted.
“While we are growing, we have downgraded our target but we are still okay,” Ortiz-Luis said.
He said the Philippines is not maximizing mining as an export when many countries rely on it very heavily.
“We should start processing ores here rather than exporting them. We can process nickel … which is needed by industrial countries like China and Japan.
While electronics and semiconductors account for 70 percent of total merchandise exports, the sector needs imported components for value-added.
“Our biggest markets are Japan, China and US and even some Asian countries. But we also import from them, that’s the name of the game,” Ortiz-Luis said.
He said supply chain disruptions continue such that production of motor vehicles are hampered due to the lack of automotive electronic parts.
Exports in June amounted $6.7 billion in June, up 0.8 percent year-on-year and up 2.4 percent from $6.47 billion in May.
