The weakening of the peso against the dollar has allowed mango growers to earn more from their mango shipments, according to the chief of the Philippine Mango Exporters Federation Inc. (PMEFI).
“It’s good that the peso weakened [as] it helped us. But the opportunity to move a bigger volume [is not there]”, PMEFI President Roberto C. Amores told reporters in an interview at the sidelines of the opening of AgriLink 2017 on October 5 in Pasay City.
“The value of mango [exports] increased because the selling price increased. In terms of value, our year-to-date sales rose by around 25 percent,” Amores added.
He noted that mango shipments have declined by more than 30 percent due to lower domestic production.
“Even the biggest processors 7D and Profoods, they saw their shipments decline by 20 percent to 30 percent in terms of volume,” Amores said.
Major buyers of Philippine fresh mangoes include Hong Kong, China, South Korea and Japan. Processed mango products, such as puree and concentrates, are shipped mostly to the United States, South Korea, Japan, China, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Russia and India.
“Thailand, Vietnam and Mexico have filled up the volume we cannot ship. Philippine mango is of premium variety but, despite that, other countries are taking up the gap in volume,” Amores said.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that export receipts from fresh mangoes in January to July reached $13.708 million, 70.14 percent higher than the $8.057 million recorded a year ago.
Revenues from mango exports during the seven-month period, according to PSA data, have already surpassed last year’s total receipt of $13.319 million.
Last year local growers shipped a total of 14,343 metric tons (MT) of fresh mangoes, 10.5 percent higher than the 12,981.3 MT exported in 2015.
In January to June, the local mango sector produced 654,100 MT, 9.76 percent lower than the 724,870 MT recorded in the same period last year.
Total mango production in the six-month period was valued at P25.258 billion at current prices, higher than the P20.035 billion recorded a year ago.
PSA data also showed that the country produced 814,055.41 MT of mangoes last year, 9.83 percent lower than the 902,739.40 recorded in 2015.
The PMEFI chief said the government should roll out interventions, such as providing mango growers with fertilizer and pruning equipment, to help them increase their output.
“[We need] fertilizer and pruning equipment. Production cost should also be lowered. These interventions will allow us to bring back output to 1 million metric tons”, Amores said, adding that the sector’s production has recently fallen to below 600,000 MT.
The Department of Agriculture said earlier that it is currently crafting a five-year mango road map that would address the local sector’s production woes.