Fresh bananas still top export in 2009

The good news is that fresh bananas are still the top export commodity of Southern Mindanao in the first three quarters of 2009. The bad news is that the region’s total exports decreased by 29.1% compared to 2009.
“The region continues to enjoy favorable trade with its major global trading partners as it registered higher value of exports at US$544 million,” said National Economic and Development Authority 11 director Maria Lourdes D. Lim.
She said this may be 29.1% reduction compared to the export figure of US$767 million during the same period in 2008, but it is still positive news since the region’s import value amounts to only US$406 million.
Lim said fresh bananas still occupy the top spot in the region’s exported commodity, while rice is the region’s top imported commodity. “Our rice sufficiency is far from ideal, so we remain a net importer of rice,” she said.
Top Exports
Bureau of Customs data show a total of 1,116,542,982.00 kilograms of fresh bananas amounting to $504,565,492.00 were exported by the region from January to August last year. This was followed by 87,302,405.00 kilograms of fresh, juice and puree pineapples amounting to $39,320,519.00.
The other top export products for the said period are: activated carbon amounting to $17,604,959.00, banana chip amounting to $17,195,233.00, natural rubber worth $11,726,518.00, dessicated coconut worth $8,654,090.00, gold with silver worth $6,693,560.00, tile worth $5,924,836.00, fresh and frozen tuna worth $4,712,831.00 and coconut oil worth $4,707,491.00.
Bureau of Agricultural Statistics records show that banana production in the region increased by 5.1% from 2,698,254 for the first three quarters of 2008 to 2,837,044 during the same period in 2009.
Most of the companies that made it to the list of the top exporters for the same period are banana companies. On top of the list is Stanfilco (Division of Dole) with an export volume of 258,008,811.00 kilograms amounting to $198,793,676.00, followed by Tagum Agricultural Development Co with an export volume of 136,616,562.00 kilograms amounting to $121,836,929.00.
The other top exporters are SUMIFRU Philippines Corporation with exports worth $98,956,448.00, Banhex Agricultural Development Corporation with exports worth $72,660,201.00, Lapanday Food Corp. with exports worth $54,679,304.00, La Fuerta Inc with exports worth $52,723,605.00 and Dole Philippines with exports worth $41,378,621.00.
Romeo L. Castañaga, chief of the Department of Trade and Industry-Trade and Industry Development Specialist said they have an annual target of $153 million for exports under the DTI programs.
While they do not have the complete export-import report for the region for 2009, the directly influenced outcomes show that the annual target was almost doubled by registering a total of $321.73 million. Among the indicators for these include the One Stop Export Documentation Center which registered $219.21 million, International Trade Fair data which yielded market matching activities and industry clusters commodities.
Top Imports
BOC data confirms that rice and other cereals like wheat flour, is the region’s top import commodity with a total volume of 132,345,450.00 kilograms worth $3,144,895,974.00 imported between January to August 2009.
Tan said the region’s sufficiency levels for rice and corn decreased by 9% from 72.70% in 2008 to 63.70% in 2009. Of the five Davao provinces, only Davao del Sur and Davao City achieved positive levels of sufficiency with 13.1% for Davao del Sur and 7.9% for Davao City. The provinces of Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte and Davao Oriental all experienced a negative sufficiency rating during the said period.
While the government expects a continued resiliency from the region as the global economy recovers, the still unresolved issue on the proposal to ban aerial spraying still poses a problem for the region’s top export commodity which is banana.