THE Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (SEIPI) is keeping its 5-percent growth target for 2023 despite the 15.29-percent decline in electronics exports in the first quarter of 2023.
While SEIPI President Danilo C. Lachica said the electronics industry does not “react” on a monthly or quarterly basis in terms of exports, he said, “We’re still eyeing for 5-percent growth for this year. So we’ll catch up.”
“Everything including ‘yung components, integrated circuits …bumaba siya [they went down]. But we’re not changing our 5-percent forecast. Maybe [as] ballpark, close to 5 percent but for now we just had a board meeting two weeks ago, and we’re still maintaining that number,” Lachica told reporters on the sidelines of the 5th Anniversary Signing of Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, and establishment of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) on Monday.
Data from the SEIPI website showed that from January to March 2023, electronics exports declined by 15.29 percent, from US$11.77 billion in 2022 to US$9.97 billion in 2023.
This, SEIPI noted, is equivalent to 59.12 percent of the total Philippine exports.
Data from SEIPI, the major organization of foreign and Filipino electronics companies in the Philippines, showed exports from five sectors decreased from last year’s first-quarter figures or from January to March 2022.
According to SEIPI, the sector that led the decline was Automotive Electronics at 74.88 percent, from the US$36.92 million recorded in the first quarter of 2022, to US$9.27 million in the same period this year.
This was followed by Office Equipment, with a 45.54-percent decline; Electronic Data Processing, with a 27.55-percent decline, Telecommunication, 18.25 percent, and Semiconductor Components/Devices, 16.69 percent.
Meanwhile, the export of Consumer Electronics gained 16.71 percent, from US$230.41 million to US$ 268.92 million. This was followed by Medical/Industrial Instrumentation with 9.39 percent, Control and Instrumentation with 1.90 percent and Communication/Radar with 1.53 percent.
Moving forward, the SEIPI chief said the industry is banking on demand recovering in the global arena as SEIPI targets to hit the 5-percent target growth for 2023.
Lachica said, “It’s a global industry. You have electronics all over you. I mean, new technologies, AI [artificial intelligence], big data, E-vehicles. So there’s still a lot of demand for electronic products.”
As to the impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine which started early last year, he said, “There is still impact. For one thing, the fuel prices, the supply of certain materials for the industry.” But he noted that, “it’s not really a big impact.”
In March, SEIPI revealed that it recorded US$49.09 billion worth of exports in 2022, a 6.88-percent annual growth from 2021.