Exports fell 39.1 percent in February at $2.504 billion, the fifth consecutive month of year-on-year declines for the country, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported Thursday.

The latest figure is a huge drop from $4.1 billion or a 10.5-percent growth posted in the same month last year. It was also slightly lower than the country's January exports, which suffered a 41-percent year-on-year decline at $2.49 billion.

Shipments of electronic products, which accounted for 54 percent of all exports in February, plunged 45 percent at $1.352 billion from $2.457 billion in the same period last year. Semiconductors, which formed bulk of electronic shipments at 37.8 percent, decreased by 45.4 percent at $946.02 million from $1.733 billion in February 2008.

According to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto, the steep decline in exports of electronic products followed worldwide trends as global sales of semiconductors declined by 30.4 percent in February.

“This is the fifth consecutive month of export contraction as all major commodity groups posted significant year-on-year declines,” he said in a statement.

Despite this, electronic products inched up by 0.5 percent from $1.345 billion recorded in January 2009. Garments also showed improved shipments on a month-on-month basis at 8.7 percent, but suffered a 17.6-percent drop compared to February last year.

Exports of manufactured goods dropped 38.1 percent at $2.158 billion in February from $3.485 recorded a year earlier. Forest products and mineral products recorded month-on-month increases of 40 percent and 14.8 percent, respectively.

Even with the 34.9-percent decline in February, the United States remained the country's top market, receiving $466.57 million or 18.6 percent of all Philippine exports for the month.

Japan was the second-highest importer at $398.98 million, followed by China ($262.94 million), the Netherlands ($208.89 million), and Hong Kong ($202.96 million).

Earlier, the government lowered its growth estimates for the year and next as the global economic downturn continued to take a toll on exports, putting more pressure on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to cut policy rates.

After a meeting with the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee, the government slashed its 2009 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 3.1 to 4.1 percent from the previous 3.7 to 4.4 percent due to weakening exports.

This is still optimistic compared to growth projections made by the World Bank (1.9 percent), the International Monetary Fund (2.25 percent), and the Asian Development Bank (2.5 percent).

For next year, the government is expecting a lower GDP growth range of 4.3 to 5.3 percent from 4.9 to 5.8 percent.