Philippines still world’s 2nd leading pineapple exporter

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines remained the world’s second largest pineapple exporter for the 15th straight year as total shipments in 2023 grew by almost three percent, driven by higher Chinese demand for premium quality fruits, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

In its annual market report, the FAO said the Philippines enjoyed higher demand for its high quality pineapple variety known as MD2 in Asian markets, particularly China, last year.

“Exports from the Philippines, the second leading exporter of pineapples to global markets, expanded by 2.7 percent in 2023 to 600,000 metric tons,” the international agency said.

The UN unit said China was the country’s top buyer of pineapples, accounting for about 43 percent of total shipments, made last year.

The FAO said that there has been higher demand for Philippine pineapples in China as the latter’s consumers prefer to buy premium quality ones.

“The long shelf life, year-round production cycle and attractive price-to-quality ratio of the MD2 pineapples, the main variety cultivated in the Philippines, proved to be a particularly strong selling point,” it said.

The Philippines also hiked its pineapple exports to South Korea and Japan by six to eight percent on an annual basis last year, according to the FAO. It also said that Japan and South Korea accounted for 30 percent and 14 percent of the country’s pineapple shipments last year, respectively.

The country exported 1.01 million MT of pineapples and pineapple products last year, valued at $731.94 million, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

PSA data showed that fresh pineapples accounted for half of the total exports with volume reaching 597,313 MT worth $354 million.

Pineapples and pineapple products are the third largest agro-based exports of the country behind coconut products and fresh bananas, based on PSA data.

Costa Rica remained as the world’s largest pineapple exporter with a total shipment volume of 3.2 million MT last year, according to the FAO.