US agriculture exports to Philippines to hit $2.9 billion

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines continues to increase its dependence on agricultural products coming from the US as imports are expected to reach $2.9 billion this year, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said.

The latest report of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) showed that US agricultural exports to the Phi-lippines may reach $2.9 billion, up 12 percent from $2.6 billion last year.

“Despite inflation, a weak Philippine peso and trade restrictions, strong consumer spending kept sales of US agricultural exports to the Phi-lippines. Consumer-oriented food and beverage products remain the best prospects for future export growth,” USDA said.

“The country’s resilient economy and a young, fast-growing, highly-urbanized population with increasingly sophisticated tastes and ever-growing access to modern supermarkets will support consumption growth in the coming years,” it added.

The US continues to be the Philippines’ largest supplier of agricultural products. The Philippines is the 10th largest global market of the US.

Traders expect sales of US food and beverage products to the Philippines to surpass the $1 billion mark by yearend.

The top 10 consumer-oriented food and beverage pro-duct prospects are beef, pork, cheese and cheese products, frozen and powdered eggs, fresh vegetables, apples, infant food preparations, frozen potatoes, wines, and pet food.

“This is fueled by consu-mer confidence in the quality of American products and the steady expansion of the country’s retail, food service and food processing sectors,” USDA said.