Philippine think tank urges infrastructure investment to revive ube industry

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Ube industry revival push

Highlights

Philippine ube production is projected to drop to 12,483 metric tons in 2025 from 21,906 metric tons in 2010, worsening supply pressures.
Ube exports are expected to reach a record 1,694 metric tons worth $3.25 million in 2025, with local output redirected from domestic to overseas markets.
The Department of Agriculture plans to allocate P300 million for 2027 to expand cultivation by 1,000 hectares, but current funding for high-value crops remains far below allocations for rice and corn.

Policy proposals target supply chain gaps

As reported by BusinessWorld Online, the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department says the government needs to prioritize investments in cold storage facilities, processing plants and agricultural logistics to improve farmers' access to markets and make the ube industry more competitive.

In its policy brief, the House of Representatives think tank says industry roadmaps alone do not ensure sustained demand or profitability, and argues that support across the value chain is needed so Filipino farmers and producers can compete for emerging opportunities. The study's authors, David Joseph Emmanuel Barua Yap, Rosemarie R. Sawali and Catherine Mae B. Vicerra, say public-private partnerships could help attract investment into storage and processing infrastructure.

The CPBRD says domestic ube production falls to 12,483 metric tons in 2025 from 21,906 metric tons in 2010, while cultivated area contracts to 2,367 hectares from 4,744 hectares. Preliminary estimates in the report place first-half 2026 output at 5,659 metric tons, with severe weather and higher labor, fuel and fertilizer costs identified as risks to supply.

Export growth outpaces local capacity

Exports are rising as international demand for ube grows in pastries, beverages and desserts, but the CPBRD warns this does not necessarily mean domestic production is expanding. Trade data cited in the study show exports increasing to 1,368 metric tons in 2024 from 753 metric tons in 2023, before reaching a record 1,694 metric tons in 2025 worth $3.25 million.

Frozen ube accounts for 840 metric tons of exports in 2025, with the U.S., Australia and Canada as the main markets. The report says the increase may reflect a redirection of limited local supply toward export channels rather than a broad rise in output, while Vietnam and China are emerging as stronger competitors through large-scale tissue-culture propagation and integrated export networks.

On the domestic side, the Department of Agriculture's September 2026 suspension of fresh ube tuber and planting material exports is aimed at preserving planting stocks amid supply concerns. The study also notes that farmgate prices rise from below P50 per kilogram to between P80 and P250 per kilogram, encouraging farmers to sell more of their harvest instead of keeping tubers for replanting.

The CPBRD says the Department of Agriculture distributes 60,000 planting sets in Bohol and Leyte in mid-2026 and proposes P300 million for 2027 to expand ube cultivation by 1,000 hectares. It also points to a funding gap, with the High-Value Crops Development Program receiving P2.6 billion in 2026 versus P30.2 billion for rice and P6.7 billion for corn, and notes four pending House bills that seek to make ube a priority crop under an Ube Industry Development Act.

Our earlier article on expanded Philippine access to Malaysia’s halal import market explained how another local halal certification body gained recognition from Malaysia’s JAKIM, widening the options available to exporters. We noted that increasing the pool of recognized certifiers can strengthen the country’s export readiness and support broader growth in halal-linked trade, investment, and related industries beyond food alone.

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