In January, banana exports from the Philippines plummeted by 51 percent to 186,419.019 tons, from last year’s 384,151.173 tons, according to the latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) trade data. The PSA data showed that the latest figure is the steepest decline in January banana shipments since 2006. Data from the agency also showed that the value of banana exports in January fell by 47 percent to $84.659 million, from $159.454 million recorded a year ago.
Japan remained the top destination of Philippine bananas in terms of value, while China was the top export market in terms of volume. The country’s banana exports to China reached 71,386.846 tons, 32 percent lower than the 105,514.553 tons shipped to the East Asian country last January 2020.
Value of banana exports to China dropped by nearly 30 percent to $30.406 million ($43.307 million last year). The data also showed that banana exports to Japan in January plunged by 41 percent to 63,476.882 tons, from 106,985.011 tons while value of shipments declined by 39.7 percent year-on-year to $32.372 million.
According to businessmirror.com.ph, the country’s banana exports to South Korea, one of the Philippines’s key markets, declined by 51 percent to 23,269.464 tons from 47,393.123 tons, PSA data showed. The value of banana shipments to South Korea also went down by 50.2 percent to $12.065 million, from $24.204 million in January of last year.
