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Desiccated coconuts: Manila harbour heavily congested

February 5, 2025 at 4:54 PM , Der AUDITOR
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MANILA. Limited infrastructure and inefficiency are delaying freight handling in the Philippine capital and driving up costs. The Philippines is not directly affected by the US tariffs.

Philippines increases exports in January

In their latest market update, the experts at T.M. Duché report that the Philippines exported a total of 198,765 mt of coconut products in January, an increase of 5.3% compared to the same month last year. This growth is mainly due to coconut oil exports, which totalled 110,234 mt, 8.2% more than in January 2024. Overall, the global coconut oil market is surprisingly robust despite volatile vegetable oil prices. Coconut oil prices are currently hovering around USD 1,945-2,000 per mt CIF Rotterdam.

Slow cargo handling in Manila

As T.M. Duché also points out, the port of Manila is currently massively overloaded. Since the beginning of 2025, the average waiting time for cargo handling has risen to two days. Limited infrastructure and operational inefficiencies are delaying cargo handling and increasing costs, for example by diverting to other ports. Added to this is the ongoing container shortage, which is leading to bottlenecks in the Philippines. This also drives up freight costs and delivery times.

Philippines benefits from trade agreement

The tariffs that the US has imposed on Canada, Mexico and China do not directly affect the Philippines; on the contrary, market experts state that trade relations between the Asian island nation and the United States are strong. In addition, the Philippines benefits from the 1989 Philippine-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), which regulates various trade-related issues, according to T.M. Duché.

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