The country’s dried coffee berry output in the first quarter grew by 12.4 percent to 19,350.32 metric tons (MT) from 17,220.46 MT recorded last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
In its quarterly report published on Wednesday, the PSA said Robusta remained as the most popular type of coffee as it accounted for the bulk of total output or 72.7 percent.
Robusta coffee production from January to March reached 14,067.2 MT, 18 percent higher than the 11,923.15 MT recorded a year ago, based on PSA data.
PSA data showed that Arabica coffee production, which accounted for almost 20 percent of total output, rose slightly to 3,793.64 MT from last year’s 3,764.64 MT.
Production of Excelsa and Liberica coffee varieties, however, declined on an annual basis in the first quarter. PSA data showed that Excelsa coffee output fell by 2.7 percent to 1,392.78 MT while Liberica coffee production declined by 4.8 percent to 96.71 MT.
“SOCCSKSARGEN was the top coffee producer with 6,970 MT output or 36 percent share to the total production for this quarter,” the PSA said in its report. “This was followed by Northern Mindanao and Davao Region with respective shares of 14.5 percent and 12.2 percent.”
Dried coffee berry production in SOCCSKSARGEN expanded by 26.8 percent to 6,974.88 MT from last year’s 5,499.51 MT.
Dried coffee berry production in Northern Mindanao went up by 30.5 percent to 2,800.59 MT from 2,146.24 MT while output in Davao Region declined by 1.6 percent to 2,353.18 MT from 2,391.17 MT.
In the same report, the PSA said cacao production in the first quarter increased by 11.8 percent to 2,249.52 MT from 2,011.90 MT last year.
“Davao Region was still the major producer of cacao with 1,780 MT output or 79.2 percent share to the country’s total cacao production for this quarter.”
The PSA said Davao region’s cacao output grew by 11.9 percent from 1,592.5 MT recorded in the first quarter of 2020.
Image courtesy of Bloomberg