August 10, 2021

The 7 Top Food Exports of the Philippines

If Spain’s top exports include olive oil and pig meat, and India ships tons of basmati rice, what are the prime commodities the Philippines provides to the global marketplace? Here are seven items that are highly regarded and wanted for their distinctive and rare qualities.

Mango

It is the most beloved fruit of the Philippines.
We have three variants—the Carabao or Manila mango, which is kidney-shaped and considered the sweetest in the world; the Pico, which is elongated and flatter than the carabao; and the Kachamita or indian mangoes, which many prefer to eat unripe.

Banana

It is a curvy yellow fruit that grows in clusters atop large flowering plants from the Musa species.
There are 57 banana cultivars, five of which you can find in the Philippines—Saba, Lacatan, Latundan, Bungulan and Cavendish

Pineapple

The pineapple fruit is an aggregate of fruitlets grown from a small shrub. It is fleshy and juicy, with the flavour varying from sweet to slightly acidic.
The Philippines has several varieties of pineapples, including the Formosa, which is the sweetest kind; the Hawaiian, which is the heaviest and most popular, and the Native Philippine Red, which is cone-shaped and grown for its fiber.

Tuna

The Philippines is one of the largest exporters of tuna in Asia, since its coastal waters act as spawning grounds for this saltwater fish.
The country ships over 100,000 tonnes of yellowfin, bigeye and skipjack tuna to markets across the globe.

Coffee

The coffee tree is a small evergreen shrub that produces coffee beans, which are actually the pits from coffee cherries.
The Philippines is among the few countries that produce the four main viable coffee
varieties—Arabica, which is the most common cultivar; Liberica or Barako, which has an irregular shape and is hard to come by; Excelsa, which has a fruity body that works well in coffee blends; and Robusta, which is strong in caffeine and primarily used for instant coffee.

Coconut

Coconut can refer to either the whole coconut palm tree, the seed, or the fruit, which is not actually a nut but a drupe.
The Philippines produces a variety of coconuts, including the Baybay, which has a thin husk; the San Ramon, which bears extra large nuts when young; and the Macapuno, which is a mutant form of the Laguna variety, with the nuts having soft and jelly-like meat.