Byline: Edu Lopez

Food and handicrafts, the biggest export industries in terms of number of workers, dropped out of the country's top 10 exports in January this year.

"The battering that the food and handicraft industries got last year due to the rapid strengthening of the peso

This is unfortunate, Ortiz-Luis said, since these are the segments of the export industry that employ the biggest number of people.

The food export industry was estimated to support about three million farming families and farm workers, while the handicrafts industry was estimated by its leaders to employ at least 1.5 million people in the provinces.

Both industries have reported the lay-off of tens of thousands of workers as a result of closures and retrenchments last year.

Although aggregate exports worth $ 4.241 billion grew by 6.4 percent in January this year compared to the same month in 2006, this was attributed mainly to the performance of manufactured goods that used imported raw materials plus the resurgence of gold as one of the Philippines' top exports.

Only two native products, coconut oil and wooden furniture, survived in National Statistics Office's (NSO) list of top 10 export earners among the many indigenous exports that included fresh and processed food, home decors, fashion jewelry, fine jewelry, gifts and toys, Christmas dA[c]cor and multi-media and rattan furniture.

The NSO reported that electronic products maintained its number one position by hauling in 61.5 percent of all shipments last January valued at $ 2.6 billion on the back of a 1.6 percent growth over the same month last year. Its growth, however, slowed down compared to the previous month.

Articles of apparel and clothing accessories otherwise known as garments, kept its record at second place with $ 171.65 million worth of shipment. But this was 15.7 percent lower than garment exports in January 2007 at $ 203.53 million.

A surprise third placer was coconut oil that fetched $ 131.33 million on the strength of a whopping 618 percent growth from a measly $ 18.27 million sales in January of last year.

Petroleum products valued at $ 106.41 million came in fourth place at a growth rate of 57.8 percent, while cathodes and sections of cathodes made of refined copper rounded up the top five Philippine exports for the month.

Still clinging to sixth place was the woodcrafts and furniture industry, the other indigenous product that managed to stay in the list of top 10 exports. The rest of the top ten exports included ignition wiring, metal components, gold and other manufactured products using imported raw materials.