Philippines banana exports doubled last year, despite Chinese import restrictions in the first half of the year, the Bureau of Plant Industry announced on Thursday this week.
BPI director Clarito Barron that banana exports in 2012 reached 3.875 million metric tons, or more than twice the 1.8 million tons the country exported in 2011.
“There was an increase in volume because major importing countries like Japan and Korea increased the volume of their imports. Other countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan and some Middle East countries also opened their market,” Barron said.
Barron also said that shipments to China had begun to improve as Beijing had noted an improvement in the quality of the fruit.
Barron said of the 3.8 million metric tons exported last year, China bought about 400,000 metric tons of Cavendish bananas from the Philippines. China remained the third biggest importer of bananas next to Japan which bought more than 1 million metric tons and Korea with 500,000 metric tons.
