China urged to review rule on VHT treament for RP’s mango exports

The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) is asking the Chinese government to reconsider its new rule requiring Philippine mango exporters to eliminate fruit pests through vapor heat treatment (VHT).

In a more positive development, mango exporters are anticipating increased shipments to US territories like Guam and Hawaii with a draft revised Federal Rule last December allowing the Philippines to export mangoes coming from all production areas in the country except Palawan.

BPI officer-in-charge Lealyn A. Ramos said she has written Lu Houlin, deputy director general of China’s Department for Supervision on Animal and Plant Quarantine to give the country enough time to evaluate and improve systems and procedures in shipping mango to China.

In the last bilateral meeting between the two countries held last month, China informed the Philippines that finally, it will impose quarantine VHT treatment starting this May to control fruit fly on fresh mango exports. For years, local mango exporters have had easy access to China which is not particularly meticulous in imposing sanitary and phytosanitary quarantine measures. With the new rule though, non-compliance will bar the entry of all Philippine fresh mangoes to China.

"We told the Chinese authorities that the imposition by May does not give exporters enough time to make the necessary preparations and the new investment for a VHT facility that will be exclusive to China," said Ramos.

National Mango Research and Development chief and former BPI director Hernani Golez pointed out that the required quarantine measure is not supported by an import risk analysis (IRA).

Moreover, BPI is questioning why it took Chinese quarantine authorities a year to cite the interceptions of six shipments of fresh mangoes from the Philippines in 2005 as the basis for requiring VHT treatment of Philippine mangoes. China said last month all of six shipments were found to be infested with "Bactrocera Dorsalis" fruit fly.

"We want to investigate the matter because currently such fruit fly does not even exist in the Philippines," noted Golez.

BPI has also requested China for information on the method of sampling, sampling size and percentage of infestation by shipment; the stage of larvae and maturity of fruit when shipments were intercepted and samples of intercepted pest.

Golez admitted that it would be very costly for exporters to invest in a new VHT facility which costs about P32 million. He said this will raise the cost of mangoes shipped to China by about P40 per kilo. The existing VHT facilities cannot be used because these are used solely for exports to the US, Korea and Japan.

"If that happens, we will lose our competitive edge. That’s why we have to exhaust all means to convince China to reconsider its position," added Golez.

China is the Philippine biggest market for fresh and processed mangoes, accounting for 75 percent of mango exports.