First double-digit rise since February 2008

MANILA, Philippines (1st UPDATE) - Philippine exports posted double-digit growth for the first time in 22 months in December, indicating that demand has started to gain momentum after the global downturn.

Data from the National Statistics Office showed that Philippine export revenues reached $3.304 billion in December, up 23.6% from the $2.675 billion recorded in the same month in 2008.

Shipments of electronic products, which accounted for 56.9% of total export revenues, jumped 40.9% to $1.881 billion during the month. Semiconductor exports, which took the biggest share of electronic products, grew 36.9% to $1.295 billion.

Aside from electronics, the other key exports of the Philippines in December were apparel and clothing accessories, coconut oil, ignition wiring sets, woodcrafts and furniture, metal components, and petroleum products.

The United States remained the Philippines' top export destination, buying $627.86 million worth of goods. This was 9.4% higher than the $573.98 million recorded in December 2008.

Japan came in second with $507.46 million, followed by the Netherlands ($295.24 million), Singapore ($283.19 million), and Germany ($245.18 million).

Philippine exports started to slow down in September 2008 and had since posted contractions. They recovered only in November last year, with a revised growth of 5.7%.

For the whole of 2009, exports dropped 21.9% to $38.327 billion from the previous year's level of $49.078 billion. But this was better than the government's projected 25% drop.

The government is currently looking at 7% to 9% growth in the country's exports for 2010. -Karen Flores, abs-cbnNEWS.com, with Reuters