Agricultural trade surges to $5.37 billion in Q2

MANILA, Philippines — The value of the country’s agricultural trade jumped by 29 percent to $5.37 billion in the second quarter on the back of double-digit increase in imports, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The second quarter figure is significantly higher than the 5.5 percent increase registered in the first quarter of the year, and is a turnaround from the 18.3 percent decline in trade in the second quarter of last year.

Agricultural imports accounted for 71.6 percent of total agricultural trade in the second quarter, surging 44.percent to $3.84 billion.

On the other hand, agricultural exports accounted for 28.4 percent of the total agricultural trade, recording a two percent increase at $1.53 billion.

“During the period, the value of agricultural export shared 8.4 percent to the total export of the country,” the PSA said.

The country’s top exports of agricultural commodities include, edible fruits and nuts,animals or vegetable oils, preparation of vegetables, fruits, nuts, meat, fish, and crustaceans, and tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes.

On the other hand, the major import commodities were cereals, meat and edible meat offal,residues and waste from the food industries, miscellaneous edible preparations, and animal or vegetable fats and oil and their cleavage products.

Among the ASEAN-member countries, Thailand was the top destination for exports with a 27.8 percent share valued at $46.08 million while Indonesia was the top supplier of agricultural products reaching $368.35 million or a 29.3 percent share.

The country’s top three major agricultural commodities exported to ASEAN were tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes ($60.33 million), animal and vegetable fats and oils ($24.75 million) and cereals ($17.65 million).

Netherlands was the country’s top destination of agricultural exports among European Union member countries with a value of $154.21 million.

In contrast, Spain was the country’s top source of agricultural imports in the EU with total imports reaching $91.9 million.

The top three agricultural commodities exported to the EU include animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage ($144.93 million), preparations of meat, of fish or of crustaceans ($54.44 million), and preparation of vegetables, fruit, nuts ($38.05 million).

On the other hand, the top three agricultural commodities imported from EU were meat and edible meat offal ($176.15 million), dairy produce, birds’ eggs, natural honey, edible products of animal origin ($72.93 million) and residues and waste from the food industries ($38.25 million).