Mango exporters push for 0 tariff in Asean, South Korea FTA talks

Mango exporters are urging the Philippine government to push for reduced or even zero tariffs for their products in the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

This after South Korea, which does not produce mango, included mango in its list of sensitive or exclusion list under the ASEAN-Sokor FTA (AKFTA). If South Korea will have its way, this will delay the reduction of duties on mangoes until 2012.

"Our negotiators should take mangoes out of the FTA talks with South Korea. After all, it has been in recent years doing a lot of business in the Philippines and are expanding everywhere in our country," said Roberto Amores, president of the Mango Products Exporters Confederation Inc. in last week’s special meeting with officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Amores noted that while South Korea is the third largest market for Philippine fresh mango exports, the market is still considered largely untapped because of the prohibitive 44 percent to 50 percent duty imposed on imported mangoes.

"The potential of South Korea as a market is huge, we can conveniently sell to this market given its proximity to the Philippines," said Amores.

The inclusion of mango in South Korea’s sensitive list poses a major problem for Filipino mango exporters, added Amores.

"The high tariff could go on until 2012, we have to find a way to bring the tariff down significantly, right now the volume we are shipping to Korea is disappointing, but we could easily increase these up to five times in five years if we could get around the tariff and the sensitive list hurdles."

Under the AKFTA, six original ASEAN member-countries (ASEAN-6) namely Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, will grant duty-free access for 80 percent of their tariff lines by Jan. 1, 2009. By 2010, these countries are expected to scrap duties on 90 percent of their tariff lines.

The remaining 10 percent of the tariff lines of ASEAN-6 will be included in the so-called exclusion list which means duties on these tariff lines will be exempted from tariff cut until 2012. In 2012, ASEAN-6 countries and South Korea will negotiate on whether tariffs on these lines will be reduced.

In turn, South Korea allowed the ASEAN-6 to come up with a list of 40 tariff lines that will not be covered by the FTA and will not suffer any tariff cuts. These tariff lines will include vulnerable industrial and farm products produced locally and still require tariff shields.

Agriculture Undersecretary Salvador Salacup said the DA will be coordinating with the Department of Trade and Industry to look into mango exporters’ concerns, particularly on their request for lower duties on their produce.

Amores stressed the Philippine government is in a good position to demand reduced duties for fresh mango exports.

"South Korea can well afford to allow Philippine mangoes to enjoy preferential tariffs. For one, they are not producing mangoes, and also, the Philippines is becoming a significant trading partner for Korea’s vehicles and electronics products, they are even in the energy and construction sectors," said Amores.

The Philippines exports an average of 1,000 metric tons of mangoes to South Korea annually. Aside from mangoes and sugar, the Philippines also exports copper cathodes to South Korea.