MANILA, Philippines — Exports of agriculture and fishery products grew by 12 percent to $1.31 billion in the first quarter even as the country’s total outbound shipments dropped during the period.
Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Department of Agriculture said agri-fishery exports from January to March went up by12 percent. The country’s total exports during the three-month period dropped by five percent to $25.7 billion from a year ago level.
The biggest agri-fishery export earners were banana, coconut oil, canned tuna, fresh and dried pineapples, desiccated coconut, other prepared fruits, carrageenan, prepared and preserved pineapples and cigarettes containing tobacco.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the agri-fishery sector was not yet affected by the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 during the period in review as the lockdown was imposed only in the last two weeks of the first quarter.
The country’s major trading partners like Japan, China, South Korea and the European Union have not yet imposed import restriction policies at that time.
Banana was the top farm export commodity worth $489 million in the first three months.
Dar said shipments of bananas bounced back from pre-enhanced community quarantine levels, although with minimal growth of only 1.74 percent due to the increase in buying prices of the fruit bound for China.
This is followed by coconut oil valued at $232 million, up by 5.4 percent from last year’s $220 million. Exports of shrimp and prawns reached $77 million.
Exports of pineapple products were valued at $97 million.
Dar said the DA would work hard to push agriculture exports in the succeeding months as the sector is seen as a major foreign exchange earner with the ability to provide employment to a huge part of the country’s population.
“Agri-fishery exports will continue to play a major part as the country progresses to the ‘new normal’ on the heels of the pandemic,” Dar said.
“We need to generate revenues and employment, and agriculture is the best sector to answer this call,” he said.