The value of merchandise exports totalled US$4.3bn in March, a rise of 4% year on year, representing the slowest pace of growth since October 2009, according to the NSO. During the first three months of 2011 exports totalled US$12.2bn, a rise of 7.8% year on year. The export slowdown partly reflects a return to a more sustainable pace of growth, after a 21.7% fall in exports amid the 2009 global recession, followed by a 33.8% rise in 2010. But the recent rate of export growth is slow even by historical standards. It is mainly explained by a fall in exports of electronics, the country's main export. After rising by 5.3% year on year in January, electronics earnings fell by 2.7% in February and 7.4% in March, the sharpest fall since October 2009, totalling US$6.4bn over the three-month period. The performance of a number of other important categories of exports also deteriorated in March. Exports of machinery and transport equipment fell by 29.2% in that month, following growth of 26.8% in January and 1.5% in February. Garment export growth slowed to 1.9% in March, from 30% in January and 21.2% in February. But there were better performances from some other export categories. Chemicals exports rose by 40.2% in March, mineral products by 31.7% and coconut products by 73.1%. Earnings from these three categories were up by US$208m in March, exceeding the overall rise in exports of US$168m.