Top 10 Imported Fruits Loved in the Philippines

August 22, 2016

Tropical fruits on displayBananas, pineapples, guavas and mangoes are the top
fruits exported from the Philippines. The top 10 fruits imported into the
Philippines tell a different story about Filipino tastes in fresh, dried or frozen
fruits.
Fresh apples represent 42.6% of the overall value of Filipino-imported fruits
during 2015 valued at a total US$205.6 million. Fresh grapes may have been a
distant second at 16.2%, but combined with apples, those two types of fruit
represent almost half of the Philippines overall purchases of fruits on global
markets.
Eight of the top 10 imports include fresh fruits, that is perishables with limited
shelf-lives. China supplies over 90% of imported apples, with 6.3% originating
from faraway United States and 1.8% coming from apple growers in New
Zealand. On the other hand, America provides almost two-thirds (62%) of
imported fresh grapes compared 21.9% for Australia, 14.6% for Chile and just
1.4% for China.
Including fresh, dried or frozen, the overall value for all categories of imported
Filipino fruits rose by 37.9% from 2011 to 2015.

Top 10 Imported Fruits Loved in the

Philippines
Below are the 10 major types of fruits that the Philippines bought from
international sources during 2015, sorted by dollar value in ascending order.
Shown with parenthesis is the percentage change in value bench-marked
against amounts imported in 2011.
1. Fresh apples: US$87.7 million (Up 32.2% from 2011 to 2015)
2. Fresh grapes: $33.3 million (Up 96%)

3. Fresh/dried mandarins, tangerines, clementines: $32 million (Up 10.6%)

4. Fresh pears: $15 million (Up 63.5%)
5. Fresh or dried oranges: $12.2 million (Down -0.1%)
6. Dried grapes including raisins: $8.3 million (Up 77.8%)
7. Fresh/dried lemons: $3.1 million (Up 447.9%)
8. Dried peaches, pears, papayas: $2.2 million (Up 395.8%)
9. Fresh kiwifruit: $2 million (Up 343.7%)
10.Fresh lychees: $1.8 million (Up 22.4%)
Among the top 10 categories, the value of imported dried peaches, pears and
papayas grew at the fastest-pace over the 5-year period. This brings us to
another interesting trend.

Fastest-growing Filipino Fruit Imports

While the most loved fruits imported into the Philippines are mainly fresh
products, frozen or dried fruits are noticeably more present among the fastestgrowing imported fruit categories.
1. Frozen berries: Up 912.9% ($314,000 total value of Filipino imports)
2. Fresh melons (excluding watermelons): Up 650% ($30,000)
3. Citrus fruit peels or melon peels: Up 573.3% ($101,000)
4. Dried prunes: Up 506.1% ($897,000)
5. Fresh/dried lemons: Up 447.9% ($3.1 million)
6. Dried peaches, pears, papayas: Up 395.8% ($2.2 million)

7. Fresh kiwifruit: Up 343.7% ($2 million)

8. Fresh or dried figs: Up 166.7% ($40,000)
9. Frozen fruits excluding berries: Up 150.1% ($1.7 million)
10.Fresh/dried miscellaneous citrus fruit: Up 144.4% ($22,000)
Could an underlying trend be germinating for frozen or dried fruits that will
eventually overtake Filipinos tastes for fresh fruits?
Research Resources
The World Factbook, Field Listing: Agriculture Products, Central Intelligence
Agency. Accessed on June 10, 2016
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 10, 2016