Malaysian producers are shipping more palm oil. The Philippines' biggest beer company sold more brew abroad. Hong Kong's port is getting busier.
Rising exports gave Asian economies a lift in the third quarter, reports this week are expected to show. Malaysia will probably report its fastest growth in about two years. In the Philippines, exports will buffer a slowdown in rice production.
Hong Kong is expected to benefit from the biggest surge in exports in seven quarters.
Taiwan, South Korea and Indonesia have already reported stronger-than-expected economic growth in the third quarter as consumers in the US, where economic growth accelerated to 4 percent in the period, bought goods from sneakers to computers.
Sales to the world's biggest economy are helping pull the region out of a slump induced by last year's US recession.
"In the third quarter, exports to the US helped support Asian growth," said William Pitman, who helps manage US$2 billion in Asia excluding Japan at Henderson Investors Singapore Ltd.
"There will be positive growth in the US through 2003 -- that benefits Asia as a whole." GDP in the US increased from the second quarter's 1.3 percent rate, boosted by strongest consumer spending this year, and exceeded the Commerce Department's earlier estimate of 3.1 percent expansion.
"The fourth quarter may show some moderation, but the US economy and Asian exports will pick up again going into 2003," said David Cohen, an economist at MMS International in Singapore.
US consumers have spent some of their extra cash this year on Hyundai Motor Co cars and Indonesian-made Nike Inc shoes, said Henry Willmore, a senior US economist at Barclays Capital Group.
"Consumer demand should be quite strong through the first half of next year," Willmore said.
Dependence on exports, particularly to the US, carries dangers for some Asian economies. Singapore, which relies on the US for a fifth of overseas sales, cut its economic growth forecast for this year to between 2 percent and 2.5 percent as sales slow at companies such as Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd.
In Hong Kong, exports account for 116 percent of GDP, and in Taiwan they account for nearly half the economy.
Malaysian exports grew 14.1 percent in the third quarter from a year ago as Globetronics Technology Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd and other chipmakers sold more to customers such as Agilent Technologies Inc.
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