By Mary Grace Padin
THE total value of the country’s farm exports continued its downward trend for the 10th consecutive time in November 2015, posting a 23.1-percent decrease to $240.59 million (freight-on-board) from $312.98 million recorded in the same period in 2014, the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
Based on the PSA report, the drop could be attributed to the decline in the exports of sugar and sugar by-products, fruits and vegetables, and other agriculture products, including fisheries, fiber, tobacco and rubber.
Coconut products reported a recovery, with outward shipments of coconut products rising last
November by 4.3 percent to $106.31 million, compared to $101.9 million reported in 2014.
Coconut oil remained the Philippines’s top farm export during the period, registering a 17.9-percent increment to $89.95 million from $76.3 million the previous year.
Preliminary data from the United Coconut Associations of the Philippines (Ucap) as of January 19 showed that coconut-oil exports in November 2015 reached 69,729 metric tons (MT), 24.27 percent higher than last year’s shipments of 56,017 MT.
Ucap Executive Director Yvonne Agustin told the BusinessMirror this is because of the slight recovery of coconut trees three years after the devastation of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan). However, she said the volume of shipments is still relatively lower than the monthly average of coconut-oil exports in the first 10 months of of 2015, at 71,280 MT.
The second largest agricultural export was canned pineapple, which accounted for $33.14 million of the total agricultural exports during the period. This was 79.3 percent higher than the 2014 exports of $18.49 million.
Banana exports, the third-largest farm export, slumped by 76.1 percent to $16.09 million, compared to the $67.35 million recorded in November 2014.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala earlier said the drop in the value of banana exports could be attributed to the downturn of banana prices in the international market. In addition, Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association Executive Director Stephen Antig said the prolonged dry spell has affected the output and quality of the country’s bananas.
Outward shipments of sugar and its products declined by 83.8 percent to $269,000 from $1.66 million in 2014. Sugar Regulatory Administration Administrator Ma. Regina Bautista Martin said El Niño caused the drop in sugar production in crop year 2014 to 2015, prompting the agency to temporarily stop the export of “A”, or US sugar, and “D”, or sugar bound for the world market.
Other agriculture products that posted decreases in export value in November 2015 included fisheries, abaca fibers, unmanufactured tobacco and natural rubber, among others.