Revenues from the country’s agricultural exports grew by 32.25 percent to P331.61 billion in 2017, from P250.75 billion recorded in the previous year (€5.3 bln from €4 bln ), according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). In its latest report, the PSA said fresh bananas remained the country’s top agriculture export product in 2017.
“[Shipments] of fresh banana at 2.86 million tons generated earnings of P56.88 billion,” the PSA said. “Volume grew by 64.7 percent and value was up by 64 percent.” Earnings from banana exports accounted for 17.15 percent of the total farm export bill last year.
Sugar was the second top agricultural commodity exported by the country in 2017 as it accounted for 3.09 percent of the total earnings, according to the PSA. Rice was the top imported agricultural product by the country.
The country’s corn imports contracted by 41.05 percent to 475,244 tons, from 806,118.6 tons in 2016, according to the PSA. Other farm products imported by the Philippines last year were garlic, mongo beans, Virginia tobacco and onion.
Businessmirror.com.ph reported on the PSA noting that the share of agricultural products to the country’s total export earnings continued to increase at 9.58 percent in 2017. However, its contribution to the total import expenditures was going down and settled at 12.24 percent.
