RP fruits, other agri products soon to start flowing into China

Tropical fruits and other agricultural and fishery commodities from the Philippines will soon be flowing into China with the implementation this month of the Philippines-China Early Harvest Program (EHP).

The RP-China EHP which was signed late last year became effective on Jan. 1, 2006.

Among other things, the EHP calls for the elimination of tariffs on all agricultural products entering China.

"This agreement should be favorable to Philippine agriculture export winners such as coconut oil, including virgin coconut oil, fresh tropical fruits such as mangoes, bananas and pineapples, carrageenan and fishery products," said Agriculture Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban.

He said these products would be entering China at zero tariff. In exchange, the Philippines in has allowed China to export its high value fruits into the country. Not included in the package are livestock, rice and corn because these sectors still need protection, Panganiban said.

Fears have been raised that a number sensitive sectors could not withstand the impact of cheap agricultural imports from China.

China wanted mostly unprocessed raw agricultural products but the bulk of the Philippines’ sensitive products belong to that group.

Agriculture Undersecretary Segfredo Serrano had explained that such a trade agreement should build up Filipino farmers’ confidence to undertake joint ventures, especially in processing more value-added products.

Serrano said that while the Philippines opens up its doors to China, the local agriculture sector should be able to come up with structural adjustment mechanisms that would somehow cushion the impact on agricultural subsectors that will be hit-hard initially.

Among the sectors expected to be adversely affected by the EHP are highland vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, and cabbage, commodities that are produced by Benguet farmers.

The Benguet Provincial Board worked but failed to get these products excluded from the EHP list. The government could not grant the request because the EHP is part of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement where the Philippines is a signatory.

This has caused apprehension among upland vegetable farmers who are already reeling from imported smuggled highland vegetables that are sold at dirt-cheap prices in wet markets.

The Philippines insisted on the exclusion of certain vegetables under EHP, but acceded to the request of China to fasttrack the completion of the Pest Risk Analyses (PRA) for the importation of vegetables, in particular, carrots, cabbages, ginger and potatoes from China.

China complained that the PRA is a form of non-tariff barrier which prevents the entry of Chinese vegetables into the Philippines. The Philippines however, was also able to avoid the Chinese government’s insistence on a time-bound completion of the PRA.

Among the items included in the EHP are pure-bred breeding animals such as live horses, bovine animals, swine, goats, chicks, turkeys, ducks and geese, and chickens. Also, live asses, mules and hinnies, sheep, primates, whales, dolphins and porpoises, manatees and dugongs, mammals, reptiles, birds of prey and other birds and other live animals are also included in the EHP. Lamb carcasses, offals of bovine animals and swine would also be covered under the EHP.

Several variety of fish such as trout, salmon, herrings, haddock, mackerel, yellowfin tunas, skipjackor stripe-bellied bonito, cod, plaice, sole, eels, carp, halibut are also included in the EHP. Other seafoods such as mussel, scallops, oyster, lobster, snails are covered as well.

Milk and certain dairy products such as cheeses are also included in the EHP.

Certain plants such as roses, trees, shrubs, rhodendrons and azaleas have been included as well.

A few vegetables not produced in the Philippines are likewise included in the EHP such as brussels sprouts, globe artichokes, truffles, olives, capers, dried onions, dried mushrooms and truffles, dried peas, dried chickpeas, kidney beans and other beans and nuts such as almonds, brazil nuts and walnuts.