Agricultural trade further fell by 20 percent in the second quarter mainly due to lockdown measures implemented globally, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
From April to June, the value of the country’s agricultural trade dropped to $4.07 billion from $4.4 billion during the first quarter.Exports of agricultural goods in the second quarter amounted to $1.45 billion, while imports hit $2.62 billion, or a trade gap of $1.17 billion. The pandemic prompted countries all over the world to turn to protectionist policies not just to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease, but also to secure their respective resources, especially food.Both exports and imports were affected by these policies. Compared to the same period last year, the country’s second-quarter exports and imports fell by 21 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
According to the PSA, the country’s top exports were edible fruits and nuts, peel of citrus fruit or melons, animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage products, and prepared edible fats and animal or vegetable waxes.In the Asean region, tobacco and manufactured tobacco products remained the country’s top export, with Malaysia and Thailand as the country’s leading trade partners.
Among EU member-countries, the Philippines had the biggest value of transactions with the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, cereals and miscellaneous edible preparations were the country’s top agricultural imports.
Most of the country’s agricultural imports from the Asean region came from Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand, while in the EU, the Netherlands was the country’s top source of imports.The disruption in the country’s trade activity has been substantial, given that some of the country’s agricultural producers and manufacturers rely on overseas markets.