Agricultural trade drops to $6.3 billion in fourth quarter
At A Glance
- The country's value of total agricultural trade declined by 0.9% to $6.27 billion in Q4 last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).<br>This was lower than the value recorded in Q4 2022 though slightly higher than that in Q3 2023.<br>Agri exports value increased to $1.63 billion from $1.55 billion as imports declined to $4.64 billion from $4.78 billion.<br>The agricultural trade balance narrowed by 10.5 percent.<br>Edible fruits and nuts and cereals remained the biggest agricultural exports and imports, respectively.<br>Among ASEAN countries, Malaysia was still the top destination for exports while Vietnam was the top supplier of agricultural imports.<br>For European countries, the Netherlands was the top destination of agricultural commodities as Spain claimed the top supplier of the country's agricultural commodities.
The country’s value of agricultural exports and imports declined by 0.9 percent to $6.27 billion as it saw a lower trade deficit during the fourth quarter of 2023, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
This was lower than the $6.327 billion or 5.1 percent annual increase in the same period last year but higher compared to the $6.200 billion seen in the previous quarter.
In the final three months of 2023, total agricultural exports rose to $1.63 billion from $1.55 billion in the same period of 2022. This translates to an 8.8 percent share of the country’s total exports.
The value of agricultural exports represented a share of 25.9 percent of the total agriculture trade.
In contrast, agricultural imports dropped to $4.64 billion from $4.78 billion previously recorded.
The PSA said the value of agricultural imports accounted for 14.7 percent of the country’s total imports and 74.1 percent for the total agricultural trade.
The fourth quarter figures led to a trade deficit of $3.02 billion, which fell by 10.5 percent percent from the same period in the previous year.
The top 10 commodity groups in terms of the value of agricultural exports contributed $1.56 billion or an increase of 4.7 percent from the fourth quarter in 2022.
Edible fruits and nuts remained the biggest export as it posted a value of $501.12 million. Other major exports include animal or vegetable oils; preparations of vegetables, fruits and nuts; tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes; and preparation of meat, fish, crustaceans and others.
On the other hand, the value of the top 10 import commodities declined by 1.4 percent to $3.95 billion in the period.
Cereals were the top import with a value of $1.02 billion during the quarter followed by residues and waste from the food industries, miscellaneous edible preparations, meat and edible meat offal, and animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage products.
Of the ASEAN-member countries, Malaysia was still the top destination for exports with a $52.02 million share or 25.5 percent share, while Vietnam was top supplier with a 28.6 percent share valued at $479.29 million.
For the European Union, meanwhile, the Netherlands was still the top destination of country’s agricultural exports with a value of $137.16 million or 50.6 percent share.
As for agricultural imports, Spain was the top supplier of the country with an import value of $101.50 million or a 25.9 percent of the total imports from EU countries.