According to data from the Philippine National Bureau of Statistics, Philippine exports of clothing and accessories increased by 3.96% to US$433.527 million in the first three months of 2014, compared with US$417.008 million in the same period last year.
In March 2014, clothing and clothing accessories earned the Philippines US$165.91 million in foreign exchange exports, a year-on-year increase of 5.6%. Clothing and accessories were the top ten major sources of foreign exchange earnings in the Philippines that month.
From January to March 2014, the Philippine textile yarn and fabric export value was US$56.278 million, a year-on-year increase of 23.01% compared with the total export volume of US$45.752 million in the same period in 2013.
At the same time, Philippine cotton imports dropped significantly by 53.78% from January to February 2014 to US$1.652 million, while cotton imports in the same period last year were US$3.574 million.
However, synthetic fiber imports surged 40.44% to US$10.303 million during these two months, while the total synthetic fiber imports during the same period in 2013 was US$7.336 million.
From January to February 2014, the total import volume of Philippine textile yarns, fabrics and textile supplies was US$115.888 million, a year-on-year increase of 17.97% compared with the total import volume of US$98.234 million in the same period last year.
During these two months, the import value of clothing and clothing accessories increased by 21.2% to US$52.156 million, while the import value in the same period in 2013 was US$43.032 million.
In 2013, the Philippines’ exports of clothing and clothing accessories fell by 0.66% year-on-year to US$1.562 billion, while its textile yarn and fabric exports increased by 0.75% to US$171.633 million. The total imports of textile yarns, fabrics and textile products increased by 9.1% to US$695.404 million.
