Make way for ‘ube’—and more
A purple reign is taking root across the globe, from coffee shops in New York to bakeries in Sydney and beauty retailers in London,” declared a recent CNN article about Philippine “ube” or purple yam. Dubbed “the new matcha” in foodie circles, we exported around 1,700 metric tons (MT) of ube products last year worth more than $3 million, a hefty 20.4 percent jump over the 2024 level. Nearly half went to the United States, which doubled what it bought from us the year before, exceeding our combined ube exports to the five next biggest markets of Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. From various food and drink preparations to cosmetics, ube products are sweeping the world, and we can’t produce enough of them. Worse, our production of this new “purple gold” is actually falling. In a country of so many missed opportunities, we must get our act together and not let this be yet another addition to the list.
The painful reality is that we now produce less than half of the ube we produced 20 years ago, when the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics reported 30,074 MT of domestic production of the crop, and production has been constantly falling. The 12,483 MT we produced last year fell short of the 13,381 MT in 2024, below the 14,150 MT in 2021, and still lower than the 15,799 MT reported back in 2012. Why the consistent decline? The Philippine Root Crop Research and Training Center, based at the Visayas State University, cites both natural and human factors. Climate change and the unpredictable rainfall and extreme weather it brings hurt the crop. Farmers’ interest is said to be weakened by inconsistent yields, a long six- to 12-month growth cycle, poor postharvest facilities, and lack of access to markets. Also cited is the lack of government support, especially for high-quality planting materials. In a New York Times article last December, a top Department of Agriculture (DA) official was quoted lamenting how Congress even trimmed the 2026 budget for ube by 10 percent down to a measly P10 million. The amount could hardly help provide planting materials to fill the need under surging world demand. The biggest insult is that we now even have to import ube from Vietnam, which, along with China, is ramping up production to cash in on the surge.
There are similar zooming export opportunities for avocado (particularly of the Hass variety with rough, bumpy skin) and calamansi, our ubiquitous “Philippine lemon” that is a fixture at every Filipino table. Dole Philippines started exporting Hass avocados in late 2023, when the first shipment of about 18 to 20 tons was made to South Korea in September. In November 2024, we became the first Asian country to export them to Japan, sourced by Dole from Davao, Bukidnon, and South Cotabato. The Mindanao Development Authority is pushing “Green Mindanao” projects to convert highland areas into Hass avocado orchards, while the DA is pursuing export markets beyond South Korea and Japan, such as Russia and other parts of Europe. The global Hass avocado market was estimated to range between $11 and $20 billion in 2025, and is projected to grow to $26 billion by 2030. From our tiny perspective, this offers practically unlimited growth potential, provided we do the right things to seize the opportunity.
Calamansi is the fourth most widely grown fruit in the Philippines after banana, mango, and pineapple, and the country is the only major producer of the crop worldwide–so far. Lately, we have been exporting an estimated 160,000 to 190,000 MT of calamansi juice annually. But like ube, our production of the crop has been falling through the years, having dropped by a substantial 43 percent since 2010, when we produced 188,300 MT. By 2017, this had fallen to 116,700 MT, and last year, it was down to only 107,700 MT. We must reverse this decline if we are to cash in on growing world interest in this fruit that has traditionally been largely our own. But like ube, it is now being increasingly grown by Vietnam, which is eyeing to cash in on growing demand in South Korea, Japan, the US, Canada, and the Middle East markets.
In 2024, we earned $9.25 billion from agricultural exports. Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia had $62.5, $52.2, $46.9, and $44.8 billion, respectively, all several times our own figure. There’s no reason why we can’t narrow, if not close that huge gap. The good news is that we’re gaining speed, with a 19.3 percent growth in overall farm exports last year, and a 35.6 percent surge in fruit exports–all in spite of US tariffs and global trade disturbances. But our neighbors are not standing still either. We must do what’s needed to make sure that ube, Hass avocado, calamansi, and other up-and-coming farm export stars get the attention, support, and investments they need, and not join the list of the many opportunities we’ve blown and lost to our neighbors before.
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cielito.habito@gmail.com
