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Exactly how long? About eight years, says a former ranking official of the Department of Agriculture.
STAR / File
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines losing its crown as the top banana supplier to China was a long time coming.
Exactly how long? About eight years, says a former ranking official of the Department of Agriculture.
Former agriculture undersecretary Fermin Adriano said the DA had expected that Vietnam would dislodge the Philippines as the top banana supplier to China as early as 2017.
“We knew that it was just a matter of time that the so-called former Indochina countries would overtake us in banana production,” Adriano said in a recent interview on One News’ “The Big Story.”
Adriano, who served as the DA’s undersecretary for policy and planning during the tail end of the Duterte administration, pointed out two main factors that contributed to the fall of the Philippines’ share in the China banana market.
First, he cited the construction of a rail project that connected China and Vietnam, resulting in faster transportation and reduction of the cost of goods. Because of this, Adriano pointed out, bananas from Vietnam exported to China became cheaper than those coming from the Philippines.
Second, Adriano pointed out the impact of the Panama disease on the Philippine banana industry, noting that production, particularly those of small growers, has been “hit hard.”
The STAR broke the story earlier this week that Vietnam has upended the Philippines’ 20-year rule as the top supplier of bananas to China.
International Trade Centre (ITC) data showed that Vietnam – for the first time – overtook the Philippines as China’s top supplier of bananas last year.
China imported a record-high 625,166 metric tons of bananas from Vietnam while its purchase from the Philippines stood at 463,306 MT, the lowest volume in over a decade.
Adriano said losing the top supplier spot in China banana market could have been prevented if the country had poured in “heavy” investments in research that would help the local industry fight the Panama disease outbreak.
Consolidating small banana farms to achieve economies of scale and be able to apply biosafety measures to prevent the incursion of Panama disease should have also been done in the country, Adriano added.
“The government needs to encourage farm clustering. It does not necessarily mean consolidation of land ownership but it is just consolidation for the purposes of production instead of individual farmers doing their own thing,” he said.
Vietnam has been eroding the Philippines’ share in China’s robust banana market, which imports about 1.8 million MT of bananas annually.
From a peak of 70 percent share in 2017, the Philippines now accounts for only 27.47 percent of China’s banana imports, based on ITC data.
Vietnam now accounts for 37.06 percent of China’s banana imports – a surge from a share of just one percent 10 years ago.
China is one of the Philippines’ top three markets for bananas. It used to be the Philippines’ top market for bananas in 2018 and 2019, thanks to warmer relations between the two countries during the Duterte administration.
However, China has been relegated to the second largest banana market for the Philippines since 2020 due to the economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and persisting domestic production challenges.
In recent years, the rising geopolitical tensions in the West Philippines Sea have also impacted Filipino banana growers, with China further cutting back on its purchases of the country’s prized commodity, industry players confirmed.
The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) earlier emphasized that the geopolitical issues compound the persisting and worsening production woes that the local banana industry is facing, particularly with the continued spread of Fusarium Wilt, commonly known as Panama disease.
