The massive flooding caused by incessant monsoon rains has no significant impact in the export industry as the floods spared the Philippine economic export zones, which account for 80 percent of the country’s total exports, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Gregory Domingo said.
“No ecozones have reported disruption in operations. Most of them are in flood-free zones, especially Laguna and Batangas where they are in relatively high elevations,” Domingo said in a text message.
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), which oversees the operations of the country’s ecozones, said all the ecozones have continued operations.
There are a total of 258 ecozones scattered around the country, hosting 2,700 locators and employing 915,260 Filipinos.
In terms of exports, the 2,700 Peza locators were able to export $463 billion worth of merchandize, accounting for 87 percent of the country’s total merchandize exports in 2011.
Laguna and Cavite provinces host the most number of ecozones in the country, but Peza said that while some of the towns in these provinces have been flooded, all their ecozones are operating normally.
Some companies, however, have not been up to capacity because some of the workers could not report for work due to heavy rains and flooded roads.
Lawyer Nori Cajulis, administrator of the Rosario, Cavite Economic Zone, said their operations remained normal except for some work disruptions for locators near the Gate 3 during the clearing up operations.
There are 291 locators, mostly electronics firms, in the Cavite ecozone, which is a state-owned enterprise.
Electronics exports account for over 50 percent of the country’s total exports.
For 2012, Peza is targeting a 10 percent increase in exports as well as 10 percent increase in investments and employment generation over 2011.
The electronics sector, which continues to suffer weak markets, has remained confident it could grow between 5 and 6 percent this year.
Semiconductor Electronics Industry of the Philippines Inc. president Ernie Santiago said they expect the remaining quarters to post moderate improvement in electronics exports for the industry to attain between 5 to 6 percent growth for the entire year.
“We hit rock bottom in April so we cannot snap back to the 2010 level as we earlier projected,” he said.
Electronics exports hit $31.079 billion in 2010 from $22.182 billion in 2009. Under the PEDP, electronics export was targeted to hit $37.7 billion this year from $34.188 billion in 2011.
By next year, the sector is expected to reach $41.367 billion.