MANILA — January receipts for Philippine exports of mangoes and unmanufactured tobacco registered triple-digit growth rates this year, while the country’s total agro-based products posted overall lackluster export performance.
Latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data show that receipts for mango exports grew 138.4 percent to USD2.03 million in January this year from USD0.86 million in January 2017.
The data also show receipts for unmanufactured tobacco surged 191.2 percent to USD10.11 million in January 2018 from USD3.47 million in the same month last year.
Growth rates for both sector, however, failed to bolster total Philippine agro-based exports’ overall performance.
PSA data show January receipts for total agro-based exports dropped 11.2 percent to USD351.35 million in January 2018 from almost USD396 million in the same month in 2017.
Among this year’s losers were coconut oil, sugar products, canned pineapples, pineapple juice, pineapple concentrates, other fruits and vegetables, natural rubber, and other agro-based products,
Aside from mangoes and unmanufactured tobacco, among other gainers in the first month of 2018 were desiccated coconut, other coconut products, bananas, abaca fibers, and dried seaweeds. (Catherine Teves/PNA)
