Agriculture export earnings down 11% last year

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s earnings from agricultural commodity exports dropped by 11 percent last year, driven by declines in the majority of the commodities, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.

In its Agricultural Indicator Systems report, the PSA reported that earnings from exports of agricultural commodities fell to P307.63 billion from P345.77 billion in 2019.

Agricultural exports accounted for 9.5 percent of the country’s total export revenues in 2020.

Last year, the country exported 3.81 million metric tons (MT) of bananas, 13.5 percent lower than the year before. This resulted in a 19.4 percent drop in the value of banana exports to P81.59 billion.

“It registered a 26.5 percent share in the total earnings from agricultural exports,”the PSA said.

Similarly, the quantity of pineapple exports dipped 5.8 percent to 594,726 MT, which resulted in an 8.2 percent decline in value to P15.45 billion

“This comprised five percent in the total receipts from agricultural exports,”the PSA said.

Exports of tobacco contracted by 19.8 percent to 32,420 MT last year. This led to a 19 percent drop in value to P6.74 billion.

Tobacco accounted for a 2.1 percent share in the total value of agricultural exports.

Mango exports also declined by 25 percent 10,658 MT. The value likewise fell 25.7 percent to P756 million.

According to the PSA, mango exports accounted for 0.2 percent of the total value of the agricultural exports.

Meanwhile, rice exports decreased by 10.1 percent to 310 MT. However,its corresponding value rose 2.8 percent to  P27.59 million.

In contrast, exports of corn surged 302.3 percent to 1,670.8 MT with its export value jumping 278.8 percent to P238 million.

“The earnings generated from rice and corn are less than 0.1 percent of total agricultural exports,”the PSA said.

The volume of rubber exports climbed by 27.4 percent in 2020 to 158,339 MT, while its export revenue increased by 16.6 percent to P4.87 billion.

Rubber exports accounted for 1.6 percent of the earnings from agricultural exports.

A similar trend was observed for abaca as exports increased by 16.9 percent to 110.3 MT, with its value rising by 11.7 percent to P1.36 billion.

“Abaca export earnings resulted in a 0.4 percent contribution to the total agricultural export receipts,”the PSA said.

Moreover, the volume of cacao exports grew 69 percent to 5,152 MT, which resulted in a 66.5 percent increase in value to P677.63 million.

Other exported agricultural commodities such as sugarcane, cassava and coffee also registered increments in export earnings last year.

In contrast, declines in the volume and value of the exports of coconut, sweet potato, onion, garlic, eggplant, potato, calamansi and mongo were recorded in 2020.

No exports were made for tomato, ampalaya and cabbage last year.