Fruit exports from Mindanao, the banana-rich southeast Philippines’ island, are proving strong despite slow growth in national banana exports.
For one, companies that sell durian and coconut from Davao in southern Mindanao are registering uptick trade with China.
One such company is Eng Seng Food Products, which operates an export plant in the region. The company’s Chief Executive John Tan told SMNI News on August 20, 2024 that they plan to export 10,000 tonnes of durian to China.
Tan also plans exports of “pandan” coconuts, whose popularity in China has prices peaking at 1,000 peso ($17.71) a crate.
Bananas in Mindanao
Durian and coconuts are however not the only fruit exports from Mindanao, as the island invests heavily on bananas.
According to the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) in July 2024, the island earned $1.19 billion in bananas alone in 2023.
Excepting plantains, the region’s banana shipments accounted for 48.18% of the total commodity exports in 2023. Coconut oil came a distant second at 10.85% export share, ahead of semi-prepared gold.
Small Growth in National Banana Exports
Mindanao’s progress contrasts the lagging national export growth, which has made the Philippines lose its number two banana-exporting nation status.
Despite shipments growing by 2.3% from 2022 to reach 2.3 million tonnes in 2023, the country still came third worldwide. Guatemala, which usurped the second largest global exporter position, shipped 2.7 million tonnes after a double-digit export growth.
Nevertheless, the Philippines still remains Asia’s number one banana shipper. Its 2023 exports, for instance, were over 50% of the continent’s 4.1 million-tonne shipments.
Ultimately, it is fruit exports from Mindanao, especially the Davao region, that continue to uphold national fruit shipments. And as the statistics below indicate, Mindanao plays a central part in the fruit exports from the Philippines.
The Philippines Fruit Statistics
Production of fruits in the Philippines is central to its economy, with over 20 tropical species under cultivation. These range from mango to pineapples and bananas, jackfruit, durian to coconut. According to FAOSTAT’s aggregation, the Philippines was the 11th biggest producer of fruits worldwide at 16,482,063 tonnes in 2020. At the top of the list was another Asian nation, China, at 242,793,824 tonnes.
What are the most important fruits in the Philippines by production total?
Coconuts (copra) led domestic fruit production in 2020 at 14,490,922 tonnes, which increased to 14,717,293 tonnes in 2021, according to FAOSTAT. Bananas followed at 5,955,310 tonnes in 2020, which decreased to 5,942,214 tonnes in 2021, per FAO data. Plantains, pineapples, mangoes and oil palm fruit followed at 3,149,093 tonnes, 2,860,202 tonnes, 752,834 tonnes and 522,861 tonnes, respectively, for 2021.
What is Mindanao’s fraction of the national banana production?
According to Agriculture Magazine.Ph, two regions of Mindanao had the lion’s share of the national banana production in 2017. They were Davao, at 36.7%, and Northern Mindanao at 24.4% of the national output.
How much fruit do Philippinos eat per year?
People in the country consumed 36.4 kg of fruits per year in 2019, according to the Helgi Library. Comparably, this portion is higher than that of the United States at 21.2 kg per person per year. It is also higher than bottom-placed Zimbabwe’s 2.02 kg but below the Dominican Republic’s topping 168 kg per person per year.