The Philippines’ pineapple exports surged by 14 percent in volume last year, the 2024 Major Tropical Fruits Market Review by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO), showed.
The Philippines shipped a total of 680,000 metric tons (MT) of pineapples in 2024, representing a 14 percent jump from 2023’s 600,000 MT, making the country the second leading exporter of the fruit to global markets, the report stated.
The Philippines trailed Costa Rica’s 2.4 million MT of pineapple shipments in 2024.
FAO said the increase was mainly driven by higher demand for Philippine pineapples from China, which is also the leading recipient of the fruit export from the country.
“Available trade data by destination for 2024 show a 9.4 percent increase in shipments to China, the leading recipient of pineapples from the Philippines at a share of some 40 percent” or 272,000 metric tons, the FAO report said.
Meanwhile, other key markets for Philippine pineapple exports in 2024 were Japan, with a quantity share of 33 percent or 224,400 MT, and South Korea with 16 percent or around 108,800 MT.
FAO said that shipments of Filipino pineapples last year also expanded by 20 percent in Japan and by 28 percent in South Korea.
The report indicated that for 2024, the average export unit value of pineapple shipments from the Philippines to world markets, rose by 6.3 percent, to $630 per MT, from 2023’s $593 per MT.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the country produced a total of 2.92 million MT of pineapples in 2024, down by 1 percent from 2023’s 2.95 million MT.
