The drop marked the seventh consecutive month of year-on-year declines. In March, exports fell 30.9 percent.

Exports in April amounted to US$2.802 billion, compared with US$4.327 billion in the same period last year, the National Statistics Office said in a statement.

Total exports in the first four months of the year amounted to US$10.727 billion, a 36.4 percent decline from the same period in 2008, the statement said.

Exports of electronic products, which made up about 60 percent of the total in April, declined by 33.2 percent to US$1.684 billion.

Apparel and clothing accessories, which are the second-biggest export item, were down 34.6 percent to US$100.43 million, the statement added.

"The performance of merchandise exports continued to fare unfavorably when compared to the previous year," said Socio-economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto.

Edgardo Lacson, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the country's main business group, said that despite the poor export performance, he was still "very optimistic" about the economy.

"Exports are still down because worldwide demand has fallen but we can feel some relief because the U.S. economy appears to have bottomed out," he told AFP.

Other cornerstones of the economy, such as the remittances of the 10 million Filipinos working overseas and the earnings of call-centers and other business outsourcing operations in the Philippines, were still doing well, he said.

Local industry association the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc., said in a statement that its preliminary figures indicate May exports will be better.

But it conceded that for the whole year, it forecasts exports to contract by 20-30 percent.

The United States remained the top buyer of Philippine exports, receiving US$447.27 million or 16 percent of the total in April, but this was still 35.3 percent down year on year.