Philippines loses China market for bananas to Vietnam

First time in decades

MANILA, Philippines — Vietnam has upended the Philippines’ 20-year rule as the top supplier of bananas to China.

International Trade Centre (ITC) data showed that Vietnam – for the first time – overtook the Philippines as China’s top supplier of bananas last year.

China imported a record-high 625,166 metric tons of bananas from Vietnam while its purchase from the Philippines stood at 463,306 MT, the lowest volume in 15 years.

On an annual basis, China’s banana imports from Vietnam expanded by almost 24 percent from 505,633 MT in 2023, reflecting the Southeast Asian country’s growing production and exports for the prized fruit.

Meanwhile, China’s imports of Philippine bananas plunged by 32.45 percent from 685,869 MT in 2023.

Throughout the years, Vietnam has been eroding the Philippines’ share in China’s robust banana market, which imports about 1.8 million MT of bananas annually.

From a peak of 70 percent share in 2017, the Philippines now accounts for only 27.47 percent of China’s banana imports, based on ITC data.

Vietnam now accounts for 37.06 percent of China’s banana imports – a surge from a share of just one percent 10 years ago.

China is one of the Philippines’ top three markets for bananas. It used to be the Philippines’ top market for bananas in 2018 and 2019, thanks to warmer relations between the two countries during the Duterte administration.

However, China has been relegated to the second largest banana market for the Philippines since 2020 due to the economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and persisting domestic production challenges.

In recent years, the rising geopolitical tensions in the West Philippines Sea have also impacted Filipino banana growers, with China further cutting back on its purchases of the country’s prized commodity, industry players confirmed.

The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) earlier emphasized that the geopolitical issues compound the persisting and worsening production woes that the local banana industry is facing, particularly with the continued spread of Fusarium Wilt, commonly known as Panama disease.

Furthermore, the volatile spot pricing mechanism of China’s market has discouraged growers from exporting to the Asian market as most producers prefer long-term contracts to have more secured profits, experts said.

The PBGEA pointed out that Vietnam’s banana industry has been booming because of its larger planted area as well as its additional supplies coming from Cambodia where it “invested a lot.”

The reduction in the Philippines’ banana market share in China comes at an unfortunate time as the country is also losing substantial market share in South Korea, another prized market for Filipino producers.

The Philippines has been facing mounting competition from both Latin American and Asian banana producers in its key markets such as Japan, South Korea and China.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) earlier projected that the Philippines may have already fallen to fourth place in the global banana export rankings last year.

The ranking is a notch lower than the third spot for the country in 2023, based on the preliminary report released by the FAO.

The STAR earlier reported that the government and banana industry stakeholders are looking at legislating a plan that will not just revitalize the country’s ailing banana sector but also salvage the country’s sagging market share abroad.

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