By Rose de la Cruz
Not too long ago– considering a few decades back– the Philippines was a top exporter of sugar, pineapple, rice (yes, rice), bananas, mangoes, logs, coffee. cacao, fiber and textiles and garments and even steel bars. But now, yes, we still are the leader in importing these same items from the world, esp. from our neighbors in Asia.
Sad how our complete embrace of the global free trade dictum led us to deregulate and remove all safeguards and protection on local production of these items, which we used to produce in abundance, only to find our competitors doing exactly the opposite (freely subsidizing their agriculture and other industries) and exporting them to us. Even Vietnam, which we taught how to produce rice, is now a leading exporter of this grain (and is now our number 1 supplier of rice).
We used to be top supplier of China for fresh fruits– mangoes and others– only to find ourselves buying the same from China and other new producers of mangoes in great volumes.
My attention was caught to this sad reality when reading at Philippine Star a story that the UN Food and Agriculture Organization reported that Guatemala was last year’s second leading exporter of bananas, dislodging the Philippines.
The Philippines lost its six-year status as the second biggest exporter of bananas despite reversing its sagging trend in shipments in 2023.
The FAO said Guatemala shipped 2.6 million metric tons of bananas last year, about 300,000 MT more than the 2.3 million MT exported by the Philippines, the Star reported.
Ecuador last year exported 6.2 MMT of bananas, retaining its premier hold of the commodity in the global market..
The last time that the Philippines was the third biggest banana exporter in the world was in 2016 when the local industry reeled from drought and spread of pests.
FAO said the country’s banana exports last year were unable to keep up with global market demand due to declining output from the devastating spread of fusarium wilt tropical trace (TR4), a serious banana disease.
As a result, local banana growers shouldered the added “substantial” costs incurred from preventing the spread of TR4.
“Over the past decade, the country’s banana production has been impacted by adverse growing conditions related to various factors, including the spread of TR4, occasional flooding and occurrences of political unrest,” FAO said in its global banana market review published recently.
Philippine banana shipments last year rose by 3.4 percent year-on-year to 2.3 million MT, driven by higher shipments to Iran and Saudi Arabia, halting three consecutive years of decline from 2020 to 2022, the Star reported.
Nonetheless, the country remained as the top banana exporter from Asia, accounting for more than half of the region’s 4.1 million MT shipment last year, according to the FAO.
FAO said Guatemala’s banana industry situation was a stark contrast to the Philippines as the Latin American country saw its exports growing by 17.5 percent year-on-year on the back of favorable production conditions and stronger farm investments.
The FAO noted that Guatemalan bananas remained among the cheapest bananas in the world, with an average export unit of $382 per MT last year.