THE country’s agricultural trade deficit in the first quarter widened by nearly 30 percent to $1.82 billion, driven by higher purchase of cereals and meat products, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In its latest quarterly report, the PSA said the country’s agricultural trade deficit in the January-to-March period was
$400 million higher than the $1.4 billion recorded in the same period of last year.
PSA data showed agricultural imports in the three-month period up 11.1 percent to $3.36 billion from last year’s $3.032 billion while farm exports fell by nearly 5 percent to $1.55 billion against $1.63 billion last year.
“The country’s total agricultural trade in the first quarter of 2021, which amounted to USD 4.92 billion, increased at an annual rate of 5.5 percent,” the PSA said in its report on Tuesday.
The PSA data showed the share of agricultural exports to the country’s total exports in the first quarter declined to 8.79 percent from 10 percent last year.
On the other hand, the share of agricultural imports during the three-month period increased to 12.97 percent from 12.25 percent last year, based on PSA data.
Exports
The PSA said the total value of the agricultural exports of the top 10 commodity groups reached $1.47 billion, which is 94.6 percent of the total farm export bill in the first quarter.
“The combined export value of these top 10 commodity groups posted an annual decrement of 6.3 percent during the quarter,” it added.
The PSA said exports of edible fruit and nuts; peels of citrus fruit melons topped the country’s farm export bill in the first quarter, accounting for 27.2 percent of the total agricultural exports.
However, revenue from the commodity group declined by 36.4 percent to $421.59 million from $662.88 million recorded in the first quarter of last year, based on PSA data.
The PSA said the country’s agricultural exports to Asean in the first quarter expanded by 30.1 percent to $201.51 million from $154.86 million, while farm export revenue to the European Union fell by 1.4 percent to $298.27 million from $302.48 million.
“Among the Asean member-countries, Malaysia was the top buyer of agricultural exports worth USD 61.87 million or a share of 30.7 percent to the total agricultural exports to Asean-member-countries,” it said.
“Among the EU member-countries, the Netherlands was the country’s top destination of agricultural commodities worth USD 120.51 million or 40.4 percent of the total agricultural exports to EU member-countries,” it added.
Imports
The PSA said cereals were the top imported agricultural product in the first quarter with a value of $628.67 million, or 18.7 percent of total agricultural imports during the period.
Agricultural imports from Asean rose by 12.5 percent to $1.235 billion from $1.098 billion last year, while imports from European Union declined by 11.6 percent to $284.98 million from $322.24 million, PSA data showed.
“Indonesia, which contributed USD387.07 million or 31.3 percent of the total agricultural imports from Asean member countries, was the major source of agricultural products in the first quarter of 2021,” it said.
“Among EU member-countries, Spain was the country’s top supplier of agricultural commodities valued at USD 55.83 million or a share of 19.6 percent to the total agricultural imports from EU member-countries,” it added.