Agri trade grows 8% in 2016

MANILA, Philippines - Agricultural trade rose eight percent last year in terms of value as exports grew alongside imports, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.

The total value of agricultural imports and exports expanded by eight percent to $17.8 billion.

Agricultural exports bucked the decline in commodity exports , rising 2.4 percent to $5.28 billion.

Imports of farm goods, meanwhile, increased 10.6 percent to $12.52 billion. As a result, the balance of trade in the farm sector registered a deficit of $7.24 billion, wider than $6.7 billion a year ago.

Coconut oil remains the country’s top farm commodity exports, comprising 22 percent of the total export value for 2016. Outbound shipments of the commodity went up two percent to $1.5 billion. The bulk of the shipments or 40.4 percent went to the Netherlands.

The other top exports during the period were fresh bananas, pineapple and pineapple products, coconut products, tuna, seaweed and carrageenan, tobacco, centrifugal sugar, milk and cream products, and mango and mango products.

Top agricultural imports in 2016 remain to be a combination of those used in manufacturing, farming and direct consumption. These include wheat and meslin, soya bean oil/cake meal, milk and cream products, coffee, frozen meat of bovine animals, fertilizer, rice, cocoa, urea, andfrozen chicken meat.

Major sources of imports were China, Vietnam, and US.

Among the country’s major trading partners, it is only with Japan that exports outpaced imports to register a trade surplus of $417.07 million, although this is lower than $478.89 million registered in 2015.

Other major trade partners last year were Australia, US, ASEAN, and European Union (EU) all of which registered a trade deficit with the Philippines.

In ASEAN, Malaysia emerged as the top destination for agricultural exports while Indonesia was the largest supplier of farm imports within the region.

Major agricultural commodities exported to ASEAN member-countries in 2016 were tobacco and tobacco manufactures, dairy products and birds eggs, crude animals and other vegetable materials, vegetables and fruits and fixed vegetable oils and fats.

Top farm imports from ASEAN, meanwhile, were miscellaneous edible products and preparations, animal and vegetable oils and fats, coffee, tea, cocoa, spices, cereals and cereal preparations, and sugar and sugar preparations.

In the EU, the Netherlands was the country’s top market for exports while Germany was the top trading partner of the country in terms of agricultural imports.

Leading agricultural exports to the EU in 2016 were fixed vegetable oil and fats, vegetables and fruits, fish and fish preparations, crude animal and vegetable materials, and tobacco and tobacco manufactures.

Top majorimported commodities from EU-member countries, meanwhile, were meat and meat preparations, feed stuff for animals, dairy products and eggs, agricultural machinery, andagricultural chemicals and materials.