MANILA - Philippine exports continued to suffer a double-digit year-on-year drop in September due to weak sales of electronic products, but the decline was slower than the previous month's, data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed.

The country's export earnings for the month fell 18.3% to $3.634 billion, but this was better than the 21% contraction in August.

For the first 9 months of 2009, exports dropped 29% to $27.639 billion from last year's $38.9 billion.

Shipments of electronic products, which accounted for 61.9% of total export revenues in September, amounted to $2.250 billion. The amount was 13.2% lower than the $2.592 billion recorded in the same month last year.

"The decline can be attributed to the 15.4% annual decrease in the components/devices (semiconductors), which comprised 44.3% of the total exports and the biggest share among the major groups of electronic products. However, month on month, it increased by 9.3% from $2.058 billion in August 2009," NSO said.

Other top exports for the month include clothing and accessories, woodcraft and furniture, wiring sets, coconut oil, and metal components, among others.

The United States remained the country's top export destination for the month, buying $648.40 million worth of goods. The figure, however, was lower by 19.7% from the $806.95 million recorded a year earlier.

Japan came in second with export earnings of $610.39 million, followed by Hong Kong ($453.40 million), Netherlands ($384.22 million), and Singapore ($221.73 million).

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco has earlier said that exports are likely to fall 20% this year. The government has previously projected a 13% to 15% drop in exports for 2009.

Imports, meanwhile, are seen to fall by 17%.