By Catherine Teves/PNA
MANILA — Receipts for forest product exports registered the highest growth rate among major types of goods the country shipped to foreign markets in 2018.
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data released Thursday showed that the January to December free-on-board forest product receipts grew 47.5 percent to USD271.24 million last year from USD183.83 million in 2017.
Last year’s growth rates were lower for total agro-based products (-9.9 percent), mineral products (-5.9 percent), petroleum products (15.4 percent), manufactured goods (-1.5 percent), special transactions (17.1 percent), and re-exports (-2.9 percent).
Forest products grew in 2018 despite the 82.2 percent drop in receipts for outbound shipment of veneer sheets/corestocks that year, PSA data showed.
Fanning such growth were gains in lumber (35.6 percent), plywood (72.7 percent), and other forest products (178.2 percent).
Last year’s receipts for these products totaled USD140.78 million, USD94.11 million and USD33.99 million, respectively.
Outbound shipment of forest products contributed to the total USD67.49 billion receipts from all Philippine exports in 2018.
