The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will maintain its aggressive push to expand Philippine exports as it seeks to build on the country's record export performance last year.

Speaking at the opening of the DTI's Bagong Pilipinas National Exporters' Fair 2026 at SM Megamall on Wednesday, Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said the government is particularly optimistic about agricultural exports while also seeing strong demand for advanced manufacturing, critical minerals and semiconductors.

"[T]he biggest players now where we can see an increase [are] in the agriculture sector. This is a big opportunity especially for the farmers. For coconut [exports], we have grown [by] 34.4 percent, and we have seen potential also in bananas, pineapples," she said.

Roque highlighted the performance of the country's ube exports, describing the crop as a "rising star" in overseas markets, with Starbucks outlets in the United Kingdom adding ube beverages to their menus.

"Last year, we were able to sell 3.6 million US dollars of ube and we can really see it growing. If you notice[d], Starbucks in the UK already has an Ube latte, so we are really expecting the rise of Ube," she said.

Starbucks UK introduced its Ube Vanilla range of beverages as part of its Spring 2026 seasonal menu, retailing for about £7.35 to £8.80, depending on the size and variant. Starbucks has also introduced ube-inspired beverages this year in several other markets, including the United States, Ireland, France and Germany, underscoring the growing global popularity of the Filipino root crop.

Roque said the Marcos administration's export drive builds on a record year for Philippine merchandise exports. The DTI earlier reported that merchandise exports reached an all-time high of $84.48 billion in 2025, up 15 percent from $73.27 billion in 2024. Electronics and semiconductors remained the country's top export products, while the United States was the largest export market.

"For January this year, we hit again a high of 8.7 percent, February up again by 8.9 percent, March up again by 20.8 percent, April up again by 7.2 percent, May up again by 7.6 percent," Roque said.

"What does this mean? Our products are accepted globally."

The trade chief also highlighted the 23 free trade agreements being pursued by the Marcos administration, which she said is the highest number under any Philippine president. She added that the planned signing of the Digital Economic Framework Agreement would further expand opportunities across the ASEAN region.

"This will [now connect] the Philippines or ASEAN to all the different countries around ASEAN, so the potential for the e-commerce market will be now 3 trillion US dollars," she said.