Philippine Agricultural Chemicals and Machinery
The Philippines is a growing market for agribusiness and its sub-sectors as the government pushes for more collaboration between the public and private sector. Philippine companies are looking for high-quality U.S. products and services to increase productivity.
The Philippine agribusiness industry is composed of five subsectors: crop production, forestry and logging, fishing and aquaculture, and agricultural services and manufacturing.
The Philippine Department of Agriculture and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to engage in more agribusiness collaboration. The MOU aims to create opportunities for farmers to increase their productivity and allow better access to the market by integrating support services for all farmers and fishermen.
The Philippines is vulnerable to climate change. The government is pushing for farmers to plant weather-resilient crops that are high-value, short-maturing, and high-yielding such as rice, bananas, and coconuts to boost production levels. Some opportunities for U.S. companies are in: irrigation and water resource management, crop protection, post-harvest facilities, aquaculture equipment (e.g. pumps, fish harvesting equipment, aeration systems, hatchery equipment), crop and livestock support services, agricultural chemicals, and agricultural technology (weather forecasting, agricultural AI, hydroponics, automated irrigation).
Existing cold chain infrastructure in the country are primarily owned by logistics companies and are not well connected with local production areas. U.S. cold chain equipment and accessories manufacturers for cold storage automation technology, pre-cooling and refrigeration systems, and temperature control technology may find export opportunities to strengthen Philippine post-harvest infrastructure.
Export opportunities also exists for U.S. manufacturers of agricultural fertilizers and chemicals as the Philippines is highly dependent on imports. Farmers allocate around 12-17% of their production costs for imported fertilizers. Farmers who are not able to buy quality fertilizers resort to sub-quality products resulting in mediocre harvests. Current market prices for urea fertilizers are $900. According to the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority – Department of Agriculture, farmers are not able to procure at these high prices and the government is working with local agricultural associations and cooperatives to source low-cost, high-quality fertilizers to increase productivity. Fertilizers used in the Philippines:
• Urea - granular and prilled (46-0-0)
• Ammonium sulphate (21-0-0)
• Ammonium phosphate (16-20-0)
• Diammonium phosphate (18-46-0)
• Muriate of potash (0-0-46)
• Triple 14 or complete fertilizer (14-14-14)
U.S. manufacturers planning to enter the Philippine agribusiness market should work with a local importer and distributor. Most importers and distributors are accredited by the Philippine Department of Agriculture to allow farmers and fishermen procure machinery and equipment.
Trade Shows
AgriTechnica Asia 2022
Dates: May 25-27, 2022
Venue: BITEC, Bangkok, Thailand
Website: https://www.agritechnica-asia.com/
Livestock Philippines (In-person)
Dates: August 24-26, 2022
Venue: World Trade Center, Pasay City
Website: https://www.livestockphilippines.com/
The U.S. Commercial Service can assist you in identifying opportunities and local partners in the Philippine agribusiness sector. For more information, please contact Commercial Specialist Katrina Domingo at Katrina.Domingo@trade.gov.