CEBU CITY — The first seven months of this year proved to be tough for Philippine exports but the last two quarters showed signs of recovery and Filipino exporters expect the industry to do better in 2010.

This, as the Confederation of Philippine Exporters in Cebu (Philexport-Cebu) announced a drop of 32 percent in total exports from January to end-July this year.

“The global financial crisis was still very much felt among exporters in the first half of the year,” said Philexport-Cebu President Jay Yuvallos, “but the last two quarters is showing signs of recovery so we expect the industry to be better next year.”

Exporters are blaming the collapse of the US subprime markets and the ensuing global recession for the sector’s weak performance.

Citing official reports on total export performance from January to July 2009, Yuvallos said the decrease was very apparent in semiconductors, the biggest exports sector in the country, which posted a 36 percent drop in sales from January to July.

Other sectors which posted a decline include wearable garments, giftware and home décor, and the garments and textiles industry with a 25 percent drop in orders and production.

Petroleum products posted the biggest drop of 78 percent followed by coconut products, which suffered a 54 percent decrease. Metal components were down 30 percent, followed by electronic products which posted a 28 percent drop, and home furnishings which dipped 21 percent.

Marine products and carrageenan declined by five percent this year while the food industry reported a three percent drop.

“The negative effect of the decreasing export revenues of export companies also made a dent in the labor and employment rate of the country,” Yuvallos noted.

He said Philexport estimates that some 150,000 workers were retrenched between October 2008 to July 2009 and the operations of 97 companies were came to a stop since 2008.

Philexport-Cebu Executive Director Fred Escalona also shared that 63 companies have reportedly not renewed their membership this year, where 28 of these come from the furniture sector.

Yet, Yuvallos said he remains confident that the country’s export industry will be “in better shape” for 2010.

He said Philexport-Cebu continues to initiate programs that will help curb the sector from further decline, among these are seminars on branding and conceptual marketing.

He too lauded efforts of the government in helping mitigate their current woes, like the request of a 50 percent cut in wharfage fees from October to December of this year where the whole industry was able to seek relief from the government on taxes, power rates, customs duties and taxes, and banking penalties and surcharges.