As in the past years, the Philippines’s food imports again outpaced its shipments to other countries, based on the latest data from the country’s statistics agency. Know more:
Figures indicated that the country’s agricultural export earnings fell by 15 percent to $1.55 billion, from last year’s $1.82 billion. Philippine imports, however, grew by nearly 14 percent to $4.76 billion, from the previous year’s $4.184 billion. Of the top 10 food items imported by the Philippines, cereals accounted for the largest share at $924.56 million, or nearly 20 percent of the import bill in the fourth quarter.
The United States and Australia are two of the world’s major food exporters that enjoy a huge trade surplus with the Philippines. PSA data showed that the US and Australia recorded a trade surplus of $606.04 million and $401.39 million, respectively, in the fourth quarter of 2022 alone. These countries supply meat and dairy products to the Philippines.
In terms of economic bloc, Asean recorded the biggest trade surplus with the Philippines in the fourth quarter of 2022 at $1.388 billion. This is because the total food exports of Asean nations to the Philippines during the period reached $1.568 billion, against a measly $179.99 million worth of local goods exported to neighboring Southeast Asian countries.
These figures underscore the increasing dependence of the Philippines on other countries for its food supply. The data also suggest that the Philippines consumes most of the farm goods it imports, instead of turning them into other products that it could export. And judging from the food supply woes that befell the country during the holidays, it appears that we will continue to rack up billions of dollars in agricultural trade deficits.
While it is true that no country can produce all of its food requirements, the Philippines is more than capable of producing most of the food items consumed by its citizens. The increasing reliance on foreign sources to ensure food supply could be disastrous for the Philippines in light of the threat posed by extreme weather events.
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