The production of crops used by the industrial sector, such as sugarcane and tobacco, posted declines in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to the latest report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In its quarterly report titled Major Non-Food and Industrial Crops Quarterly Bulletin, the PSA said tobacco output in the October-to-December period dropped 15.5 percent to 1,142 metric tons (MT), from 965 MT recorded in 2015, the PSA said.
“The 15.5-percent loss is explained by less area harvested this period in Northern Mindanao (Misamis Oriental), as more were harvested during the third quarter because of contract growing of Virginia variety by Phillip Morris Fortune Tobacco and higher prices,” the PSA added.
The PSA said Northern Mindanao remained the top tobacco-producing region, accounting for 94.3 percent of the total production in fourth quarter. However, output in the region declined 19.1 percent to 910 MT, from 1,125 MT recorded in 2015.
Virginia was the top variety, accounting for 82.4 percent of total production, while native variety and Burley variety accounted for 13.5 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively, according to the PSA report.
The volume of sugarcane produced in the fourth quarter last year dropped by 15 percent to 6.29 million metric tons (MMT), compared to the 7.40 MMT produced in the same period in 2015, the PSA said.
“Sugarcane for centrifugal sugar, which constitutes 98.5 percent of the total sugarcane production, drove the overall decrease of sugarcane production, as its production went down by 15 percent,” the PSA said.
“This was due to less canes harvested in Negros Island region (Negros Oriental) and less area harvested in Northern Mindanao (Bukidnon) due to delayed milling caused by drought during the first semester of 2016. Also, the harvest in Negros Island region was affected by heavy rains during December,” it added.
The bulk of sugarcane production came from Negros Island region, with a share of 78.4 percent, the PSA report noted. Western Visayas contributed 9.8 percent to total production.
Coconut production in the fourth quarter declined by 5.2 percent to 3.77 MT, from 3.97 MMT recorded in 2015. The PSA said the lingering effects of El Niño caused coconut trees to develop smaller nuts in Davao region and Zamboanga Peninsula.
“The top 4 coconut-producing regions for the quarter are Northern Mindanao, Davao region, Zamboanga Peninsula and Calabarzon. These regions had a collective production of 1.71 MMT and comprised 40.3 percent of the national coconut production,” the PSA said.
The PSA also said the production of dried coffee berries went down in the fourth quarter by 3.3 percent to 32,170 MT, from 33,250 MT in 2015, due to damages caused by Typhoon Lawin in the Cordillera Administrative Region, particularly in the Kalinga area.
“Of the total coffee production, Robusta coffee was the top-produced variety at 68.8 percent; followed by Arabica, 26.0 percent; Excelsa, 4.3 percent; and Liberica, 0.9 percent,” the PSA said.
The PSA said the top coffee-producing regions were Soccsksargen, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Davao region and Western Visayas.