Notadong siga sa Ermita namusil sa ‘mitug-an’

New Zealand businessmen have pledged to import $30 million worth of fresh mangoes, banana chips and desiccated coconut from the Philippines as well as sardines, dried anchovies, squid, ready-mix sauces, pili nuts and coco and fruit juices, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said yesterday.

The DA has also entered into a partnership with New Zealand’s leading health food company, Sanitarium, to explore the possibility of buying Filipino food items and supporting the country’s milk feeding program as a vehicle to educate the Filipinos on a healthy diet.

Yap said the sale of $30 million worth of fresh and processed agro-fishery products was among the fruits of this week’s successful state visit of President Arroyo to New Zealand.

The President party visited the Sanitarium Health Food Co. (SHFC) facility in Auckland on Wednesday.

The President was accompanied in her visit to the SHFC facility by Yap, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, Trade Secretary Peter Favila, and Ambassador to New Zealand Bien Tejano.

The President was welcomed by SHFC officials led by Global chief executive officer Kevin Jackson, general manager Pierre Van Heerden. general manager for exports Dean Powrie, marketing manager Mark Roper and the company’s nutrition services manager Kim Stirling.

The memorandum of agreement (MOA) with SHFC, considered one of the biggest health food companies in New Zealand and Australia, was worked out by the DA through Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat and Ambassador Tejano, Yap said.

“We can pursue the sale of fresh and processed fruit and fruit products from the Philippines like mangoes, bananas and banana chips, nuts and dessicated coconut, with SHFC, which is a leading supplier of breakfast cereals and health food products,” Yap said.

Yap said the DA would link SHFC with Filipino suppliers who can meet the market and production requirements of the health food company.

Established in 1898, SHFC, which has an annual turnover of A$300 million, grew from a fledgling bakery to a health food company with operations in both Australia and New Zealand.