The Port of Davao in the Philippines recorded a 12 per cent increase in the value of products shipped during the first half of this year, despite troubled growing conditions for the region’s bananas, which make up 66 per cent of the port’s movement by value.
Products shipped from Davao hit US$510.5m in the first half, compared to US$456.7m in the first half of last year, according to Bureau of Customs data.
Fresh bananas made up 66 per cent of the port’s outbound freight by value, rising to US$335.9m, up 4.4 per cent on the same period last year, reported Business World.
But the figures may not look so rosy in the second half of the year, said Stephen Antig, president of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA).
The Davao region, hub of the Philippines’ banana export trade with 50,000ha of plantations, is facing a switch from the first half’s El Niño drought to a La Niña weather pattern in the second half with likely flooding.
“As to the effects of La Niña, we still do not know; but some of the plantations are already experiencing floods,” Mr Antig said.
PBGEA members, who account for the majority of the Philippines’ banana exports, shipped a total of 155m boxes of bananas last year at an average price of US$3 a box.
