Filipino exporters expect their banana shipments to drop by as much as 40 percent in terms of volume this year as output is drastically reduced by Fusarium Wilt and a drought, with the aggravating impact of COVID-19 on trade.
Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) Executive Director Stephen A. Antig said the 40 percent reduction is a worst-case scenario, considering the extent of damage to plantations by Fusarium wilt or Panama disease, coupled by the drought experienced in Mindanao.
Antig estimates that 20 percent of the country’s area planted to bananas have been damaged by Panama disease. As of March, he said, the disease has already affected about 30,000 hectares to 40,000 hectares of banana plantations in Mindanao.
Worse than that, Antig said the unfavorable weather conditions, particularly the drought in Mindanao, is adversely affecting local banana production. He explained that the lack of rainfall would impact small and medium growers without access to irrigation facilities.
“[The 40 percent reduction] is possible. And I hope it is already the worst-case scenario,” Antig told the BusinessMirror.
The country’s banana shipments in 2019 reached a record-high 4.4 million metric tons (MMT), which was valued at nearly $2 billion, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed. Antig said a best-case scenario would be a 20 percent to 23 percent reduction in export volume, which he noted was “not bad,” given all factors affecting the industry today.
Nonetheless, Antig said they hope the Philippines could maintain its stature as the world’s second-biggest producer of bananas despite the foreseeable reduction in output. He explained that other banana-exporting countries, particularly Ecuador and other Latin American nations, also face trade challenges due to the pandemic.
First-quarter figures
Philippine banana exports in the first quarter grew 10.71 percent to 1.18 MMT from 1.066 MMT, PSA data showed. PSA data also showed that value of total exports during the period grew 1.73 percent to $489.154 million from $480.805 million.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) claimed that the value of banana exports in the first quarter grew on the back of the “increase in buying prices” by Chinese importers.
