Vietnam Overtaking Philippines as China's Top Banana Supplier Long Expected

The Philippines losing its crown as the top banana supplier to China was a long time coming.

- JASPER EMMANUEL ARCALAS

Exactly how long? About eight years, says a former ranking official of the Department of Agriculture.

Former agriculture undersecretary Fermin Adriano said the DA had expected that Vietnam would dislodge the Philippines as the top banana supplier to China as early as 2017.

"We knew that it was just a matter of time that the so-called former Indochina countries would overtake us in banana production," Adriano said in a recent interview on One News' "The Big Story."

Adriano, who served as the DA's undersecretary for policy and planning during the tail end of the Duterte administration, pointed out two main factors that contributed to the fall of the Philippines' share in the China banana market.

First, he cited the construction of a rail project that connected China and Vietnam, resulting in faster transportation and reduction of the cost of goods. Because of this, Adriano pointed out, bananas from Vietnam exported to China became cheaper than those coming from the Philippines.