UNCTAD: Value-added exports crucial

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is urging developing economies to reduce their dependence on the export of key commodities, citing the potential of those with a more diversified economic mix like the Philippines to nurture sustainable growth.

- 

Based on its 2025 State of Commodity Dependence Report released on July 22, UNCTAD reported that 95 out of 143 developing countries are still dependent on commodities for their export market.

Approximately 80 percent of least developed countries and landlocked developing countries and 60 percent of small island developing states are prone to this excessive reliance.

UNCTAD considers a country to be commodity-dependent when it makes more than 60 percent of its export earnings from commodity exports.

The report categorizes commodity trade into three key sectors: energy, mining, and agriculture.

"Entrenched reliance on these primary products—long been of global concern—hinders industrial development and threatens countries' fiscal stability when global prices go volatile," it said.