Australia putting up more roadblocks for RP bananas

After reversing an earlier decision to finally allow the imports of  bananas from the Philippines, the Australian government is poised to put up  more roadblocks in the form of  more rigid quarantine measures for Philippine bananas.  

This was indicated in a letter sent recently by Australian charge d’ affair Miles Armitage to Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr.

"Although the likely impact of correcting the spreadsheet error can only be determined on the basis of the import risk analysis (IRA) panel’s advice, a preliminary assessment has indicated that some quarantine measures may need to be strengthened," Armitage said.

Armitage added that the delay caused by Biosecurity Australia’s (BA) reversal of  its previous endorsement to lift restrictions on Philippine banana imports is "regrettable but is unavoidable in the circumstances."

Last Feb. 19, BA in its revised IRA report said it is safe for Philippine bananas to enter the Australian market, but a few weeks later, under intense pressure from the Australian Banana Growers Council, stunned the Philippines and said  it made a mistake in the electronic spreadsheet used in estimating the risk for the banana IRA.

As a result, BA said it will have to reevaluate its findings and has assigned an expert panel to determine changes required to correct the error. After the panel’s submission of its recommendations of which no timetable is indicated, a new 60-day consultation period will start.

BA is the Australian government agency that assesses the risk of disease from imported farm products.

Local stakeholders are wondering whether the statistical error was just the latest of innumerable delays in Australia’s "labyrinthine IRA process."

"If the error were not major as the announcement from BA would have us believe, how come the addendum which they say will be forthcoming has not yet been issued up to now?" asked a fruit exporting firm manager from Davao.

In the meantime,  the  Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) will come up with a common position on the issue and submit its comments before the BA deadline of  April 23, 2004.

Top level officials of  the DA and the PBGEA met recently to harmonize their stand on the banana issue. During the meeting, both parties agreed that the country should deal with the addendum to the draft IRA separately. At the same time, the government will press BA to set a specific timeline for the issuance to the draft IRA.

The BA decision angered the Philippine government which said it could take  retaliatory measures against Australia.

"We are reviewing to what extent should  we  retaliate against Australia. There is intent to again delay our bid to have our products enter the Australian market," Lorenzo said.

Lorenzo said  the government could try to convince importing entities to limit their imports from Australia. These include imports of  cattle and dairy products.

The Philippines buys 90 percent of  its cattle requirements and also buys a huge chunk of dairy products  from Australia.

"It appears that what Australia did to us is another delaying tactic. It may be a technical oversight but we see it as a political maneuver. They are playing their game, they are the referees and they have been changing their rules all the time. How can we expect Australia to be trusted in the area of trade if they behave this way?" asked Lorenzo.

"Now we have more grounds to pursue our case started at the dispute settlement panel at the WTO," Lorenzo said.

The Philippines last year asked the World Trade Organization to create a dispute settlement panel that will resolve the two countries’ trade row.