PH Remains Second Top Banana Exporter Despite Decline in Supply

The Philippines is still the second top supplier of bananas in the world for four consecutive years in 2021, according to a United Nations agency.

Despite the 33.58% decline in supply, the country was able to export 2.529 million metric tons (MTT) of bananas last year versus 3.808 MMT in 2020.

According to the “International Trade Banana" report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the drop in shipments was driven by extreme challenges in production which resulted in the reduction of purchases from key Asian markets such as China and Japan.

Aside from the COVID-19 and TR4 strains, violent storms wreaked havoc on banana production, resulting in greater input prices, according to the FAO report.