Income from abaca exports down 8.7%

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine earnings from abaca exports declined by 8.7 percent as of end-February compared to last year due to lower demand, the Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA) said.

Data from the FIDA showed that the earnings from exports of abaca  reached $19.953  million in the January to February period, down from $21.859 million in the same period last year.

Mystic Pelayo, officer-in-charge of the the planning and statistics division of the FIDA said in a text message late Monday that the drop in export earnings was due to lower demand for abaca products from overseas.

“Exports of abaca cordage and of abaca fiber were lower than last year...because there is now available fiber due to increased fiber production and they (importers) still have inventories,” she said.

She said that while importers may have slowed down on their purchases of abaca, the FIDA expects purchases to again pick up in the coming months.

The data showed that apart from abaca cordage and fiber, the Philippines shipped abaca pulp, abaca fabrics, and abaca fibercrafts to other countries.

Philippine abaca products were sold to countries like the US, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, China, Taiwan and South Korea, among others.

As purchases of Philippine abaca products is seen to increase in the coming months, Pelayo said the FIDA is optimistic earnings from abaca exports would grow this year.

“Our growth projection (for export earnings) remains at 10 percent this year,” she said.

The country’s export earnings from abaca reached $140.3 million last year, higher than the $104.5 million in 2010.

Abaca is a material used for making tea bags, casing of meat sausages, surgical masks and cigarette paper.