Processed fruits, marine product exports up 46%

CEBU, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs (BOC-Cebu) reported a 46 percent increase of processed fruit and marine products exports in Cebu in the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period of last year.

Based on Cebu’s export-import statistics recorded in the BOC-Cebu, at least 696 TEUs (Twenty-footer Equivalent Unit) of food wares exported by Cebu-based exporters in the first three months of 2011 compared to 475 TEUs recorded in the same period of 2010.

Exports of processed fruit products in the first quarter of 2011 reached 490 TEUs which is 48.9 percent higher compared to the same period in 2010 which was 329 TEUs only.

Processed fruit exports from Cebu mainly comprised of dried fruits, fruit chips, fruit jams, fruit jellies, and fruit purees and fruit juices. Exports of processed marine products in the first quarter of 2011 reached 206 TEUs or 41 percent higher compared with the same period in 2010 which was only 146 TEUs.

Processed marine products are mainly comprised of frozen scallops, cuttle fish, octopus, abalone, canned crabmeat and shrimps.

Cebu is the home to some of the biggest exporting companies in the Philippines producing processed fruits and processed marine products.

At least about 40 food exporters based in Cebu are taking advantage of Cebu’s strategic location in the Visayas and Mindanao region where raw materials are abundant and easily transportable to Cebu for processing and eventually for exporting.

The biggest export market of Philippine exports of processed fruits and marine products are the USA, Asia and Europe.

Meanwhile, a report from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-7) showed that the region’s aquaculture industry continued to expand by posting another 6.6 percent increase in production in 2010/

The expansion of seaweed farms in the Province of Bohol as well as the establishment of additional ponds for fish and vannamei culture in various areas of the region contributed to the increase in aquaculture production.

For the past several quarters, aquaculture has been the impetus for growth of the fishery sector.

More than 50 percent of the region’s fishery production is accounted for by aquaculture.

NEDA-7 further indicated that commercial fishery production in Central Visayas has been declining since 2008.

One of the reasons cited by authorities for the decline in commercial fishery production is the worsening impact of climate change on the region’s marine resources.

Commercial fishing operations are forced to reduce their fishing trips because the volume of their fish catch is not enough to cover the high cost of fishing activities. (FREEMAN)