Earnings from the country’s top farm exports fell last year, according to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Figures from the PSA showed that receipts from coconut oil, the Philippines’s top agri export, registered the biggest decline at 44.2 percent. The value of coconut exports, including crude and refined, reached $1.172 billion in 2023 compared with the previous year’s $2.1 billion.
The drop in international oil prices was the main culprit behind the significant reduction in earnings from the country’s top agri export last year, based on data from the World Bank.
Figures from the World Bank showed that coconut oil in January to December last year averaged $1,075 per metric ton (MT), lower than the $1,635 per MT recorded in 2022.
In the fourth quarter of 2023 alone, coconut oil averaged $1,090 per MT, down from the previous year’s $1,147 per MT.
Other coconut products, such as desiccated coconut and activated carbon, registered lower earnings last year, according to PSA data.
Dessicated coconut exports fell by 33.1 percent to $247.18 million in 2023, from $369.36 million. Activated carbon contributed $104.85 million to the country’s exports receipts last year, a third lower than the previous year’s $158.31 million.
Earnings from pineapple and pineapple products also slid last year, according to the PSA. Pineapple shipments to other countries were valued at $727.83 million, from $756.25 million in 2022.
The value of tuna exports was also lower by 1.6 percent last year. PSA figures showed that outward shipments of tuna reached $369.45 million compared with the $375.48 million recorded in 2022.
Receipts from seaweeds and carageenan declined by 14.3 percent to $299.17 million, from $349.26 million in 2022, according to data from the statistics agency.
Outward shipments of abaca were valued at $19.72 million last year, nearly 13 percent lower than the $22.58 million recorded in 2022.
A bright spot for the Philippines in terms of agricultural exports in 2023 was fresh bananas. Receipts from the fruit favored by Asian consumers rose by 11.1 percent to $1.220 billion, from the previous year’s $1.097 billion.
Copra cake or meal also registered an increase last year. Earnings from the commodity went up by 4.6 percent to $65.76 million, from $62.88 million recorded in 2022.
The PSA said the total value of exports in 2023 reached $73.52 billion. The figure is 7.6 percent lower than the previous year’s $79.57 billion.