Australia to lift ban on RP bananas

Australia is expected to lift a two-year ban on banana imports from the Philippines that sparked a trade row between the two countries.

Quarantine agency Biosecurity Australia (BA) was finalizing a two-year risk analysis initiated after the country turned down a Philippine import application, arguing bananas might carry diseases that could devastate its own banana industry.

The BA’s recommendation, however, is subject to a number of conditions meant to protect Australia’s banana industry. A final decision has yet to be made but all affected countries can submit their appeal or comments until April 23.

The recommendations in the revised draft on import risk analysis (IRA) on bananas, is a reversal of the previous draft issued two years ago when BA claimed that moko, freckle and mealybugs are still identified as quarantine pests of concern requiring management.

The revised draft proposes that bananas from the Philippines may be exported to Australia under strict quarantine conditions.

These include sourcing bananas from plantations which can demonstrate that the prevalence of moko and freckle diseases is below the levels acceptable to Australia.

At the same time, the source of fruit should come from areas that are inspected weekly and found free from symptoms of moko and freckle.

The BA also required treating bananas with chlorine in the packing station, targeted washing of banana fingers in packing station, and inspection of quality assurance staff to reduce the risk of mealybugs to a very low level.

Another requirement is to install additional practical measures relating to packing materials, packing and transport procedures to reduce the risk of contaminants such as leaf trash, weeds sees and frogs.

While the Australian banana industry was outraged over the announcement, Philippine banana exporters were ecstatic about the BA decision.

"This is a positive indicator, it will open doors for our world-class bananas to be exported to Australia," said Francisco Lorenzo, senior vice-president of Lapanday Foods Inc., adding that the industry hopes a final decision will eventually prove to be favorable for the Philippines.

Philippine banana exporters have been trying to penetrate the Australian market which consumes 260,000 metric tons (MT) of bananas yearly.

The repeated refusal of Australia to accept tropical fruits from the Philippines such as bananas and pineapples has forced the Philippine government to take up the matter before the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. said that while he welcomed the development, the Department of Agriculture will still have to study the implications of the recommendations contained in the IRA report, especially since "we have an outstanding case in the WTO against Australia so we are studying legal angles of this development," he added.

Australia has also been fiercely blocking the entry of Philippine pineapples, and said its acceptance on its market rests on the country agreeing to de-crown the fruit and subject it to pre-shipment methyl bromide fumigation.

Nothing concrete came out of the first bilateral talks held last year between the Philippine and Australian governments.

Australia wanted the Philippines to start exporting pineapples using its pre-shipment requirements and fumigation methods and try this for a year before it completely amends its quarantine laws and totally open up its market.