The Philippines’ ube paradox

PHOTO FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM

If Japan has matcha, the Philippines has ube, and the local and global markets can’t seem to get enough of the rich tuber crop prized for its naturally sweet taste and vibrant purple color that has appeared in a wide range of products from baked goods to beverages.

The skyrocketing demand for purple yam—fueled by consumers’ need for new flavors, natural and plant-based products—has presented the Philippines with a rare opportunity to diversify its agricultural exports and thus further reduce the country’s agricultural trade deficit that has fortunately narrowed to a five-year low of $600.09 million in April 2026.

Teodoro Mendoza, retired professor and agricultural scientist at the Institute of Crop Science, University of the Philippines Los Baños, said that this “paradox” of rising exports but declining domestic supply has forced the Philippines to import ube products from neighboring Vietnam.

Mendoza said in his paper that local production of ube had dropped from 15,000 metric tons in 2021 to just 12,483 metric tons in 2025, at a time when local and global demand continues to surge.

Ube value chain

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) enumerated reasons for the “modest” local production of the highly valued crop: limited planting materials, fragmented smallholder production and insufficient processing capacity, compounded by ever-present climate risks such as excessive rainfall and prolonged droughts.

But all is not lost, as the Marcos administration has recognized the potential of ube and has poured financial and technical resources to boost domestic output and ube exports that last year hit $3.06 million, primarily going to the US.

Last week, the agriculture and trade departments also gathered 249 stakeholders across the ube value chain, from farmers to processors, exporters, traders and cooperatives, to tighten coordination and urgently put in place systems to take advantage of the rising global demand for ube, recognizing that while demand is accelerating, the production has been struggling to keep up.

As Agriculture Undersecretary Philip C. Young, who leads the DA’s High Value Export Crops program said, ube “is no longer just a pantry staple or dessert flavor but an export product that needs rules, scale, and a proper growth playbook.”

‘Queen of Philippine Yams’

Industry data show that with the right support such as access to ube planting materials that could resist pests and extreme weather events, production could scale up to as much as 500 metric tons per operator from the current 50-60 metric tons.

The Bureau of Plant Industry has already moved in this direction, distributing more than 60,000 purple yam planting materials worth P2.6 million to over 900 farmers in Leyte and Bohol, the center of the country’s ube production.

The DA has also increased support for research and development on ube, in partnership with various universities, such as the University of the Philippines Diliman and Los Baños, with the proposed budget next year hiked to P93 million from just P17 million this year.

Bohol has also officially filed a geographical indication (GI) bid with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines for “ubi kinampay” to protect the “Queen of Philippine Yams” from false origin claims, imitation projects and unauthorized commercial use. With the GI stamp, the world will know that the Philippine ube is the gold standard, everything else is second best.

This is part of the government’s thrust to safeguard heritage crops and strengthen the Philippines’ position in the “purple food” market that competing countries are only too eager to take advantage of.

Latest reports said USDA officials visited Bohol last Monday to explore possible funding support for a research program aimed at strengthening the province’s ube industry.

Global ube powerhouse

The Philippines is indeed racing against time as Vietnam is determined to present itself as the global ube powerhouse, taking advantage of its competitive agriculture sector to accelerate production and seize markets away from the Philippines.

Mendoza pointed out that Vietnam has integrated ube into its well-oiled agri-export chains that produce crops such as cassava and dragon fruit at commercial scale.

More worryingly for the Philippines, Vietnam also invested in tissue culture and propagation centers, ensuring a steady supply of planting materials and avoiding bottlenecks that plague mostly small-scale Philippine farmers, he said.

And as if Vietnam were not enough of a problem, China is also increasing its investment in ube production, focusing on state-supported agricultural research, biotechnology, mechanized farming systems and processed food manufacturing to cash in on the viral food trend.

These concerning developments should push all stakeholders into concerted action to stamp the Philippines’ mark on the global ube trade, the growth potential of which is there for the country’s taking and not lost by default or lack of coordination and commitment to more aggressive countries like Vietnam and China.