Electronic imports up 17% in Jan-Feb

ELECTRONICS imported into the country

months of 2018 to $4.23 billion (P219.37 billion) from $3.61 billion (P187.21 billion) a year ago, the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (Seipi) said.

According to data on Seipi’s website on Wednesday, automotive electronic imports led the growth. It rose by 67.33 percent to $7.274 million (P377.23 million) in January and February from last year’s $4.347 million (P225.44 million).

Control and instrumentation imports also rose by 33.7 percent to $93.04 million (P4.83 billion) from $69.59 million (P3.61 billion) in 2017. Telecommunication imports climbed by 29.49 percent to $243 million (P12.6 billion) from $188 million (P9.75 billion) the year before.

Imports of office equipment, consumer electronics, components/devices or semiconductors, communication/radar, electronic data processing, and medical/ industrial instrumentation also saw increases.

For February alone, imports grew by 13.48 percent to $1.97 billion (P102.16 billion) from $1.74 billion (P90.24 billion) last year.

that month, growing by 70.76 percent to $20.47 million (P1.06 billion) from $11.99 million (P621.8 million) the year before.

Other sectors— automotive electronics, consumer electronics, telecommunication, communication/ radar, control and instrumentation, medical/ industrial instrumentation, electronic data processing, and semiconductors— also registered growth.

The imports recorded as of January came from South Korea, China, Taiwan, Japan, and the United States, according to Seipi.

First established as the Semiconductor Electronics Industry

1984, Seipi is the largest organization of Filipino and foreign electronics companies in the country.