USAID helps more farmers export fruits to South Korea

MANILA, Philippines - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through its Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) program, and with the help of the Department of Agriculture (DA) is helping more Filipino farmers, particularly in Mindanao, to export more fruits, fresh and processed to South Korea.

South Korea is one of Mindanao’s largest export markets for high-value fresh and processed fruit.

A joint reconnaissance visit was recently conducted by the USAID-GEM and the DA to Seoul, Korea to look into other opportunities for Philippine fruit products.

South Korea, which imports about 70 percent of its food requirements, is one of the most rapidly-expanding markets in Asia for fresh and processed fruits and fruit juices.

The South Korean market also has a robust demand for seafood products.

“Koreans have shown a growing preference for health foods, including processed organic products and specialty fresh fruits,” according to the reconnaissance team.

Thus it was noted by the reconnaissance team that “there are market niches (in South Korea) that can be filled by Mindanao producers.”

It was also observed that South Korea has a highly efficient food distribution and logistics systems, and many of its biggest retail chains and distributors have outlets in other countries.

The spot check conducted by the GEM Program and the DA in five retail outlets revealed that various food items already being sold in South Korea, or with strong market potential, can be sourced from Mindanao.

The retail outlets visited by the joint USAID-GEM and DA team included branches of leading department chains Hyundai and Lotte, as well as a Filipino “Sunday market” in Seoul.

South Korea, a large consumer of seafood products, is among the top buyers of high-value fresh seafood from Mindanao, accounting for 94 percent of the region’s total direct exports of abalone in 2008.

The retail stores and the Sunday market visited by the reconnaissance team carried frozen bangus (milkfish) and canned sardines from Zamboanga.

Some processed fruit items — such as banana chips — were readily found in these outlets.

However, Philippine dried mango was harder to find.

Mindanao’s direct exports of dried mango to Korea totalled only two metric tons in 2008.

However, certified organic dried mango from the US was being sold at Hyundai Department Store for approximately $135 per kilo, about five times the price of Philippine dried mango.

At Lotte Mart, fresh cavendish bananas displayed stickers indicating that they had been grown in North Cotabato.

Señorita bananas were also available at about $7.50 a kilo, almost double the price of the cavendish variety.

Most of the fresh mango and pineapple found in the stores were from Thailand or the Philippines.

Thai fruits were slightly more expensive.

The GEM Program, which is assisting Mindanao producers to expand their market reach in South Korea, said that frozen mango and banana were items which drew significant interest from buyers during last year’s Seoul Food and Hotel expo.

The Filipino stall market held every Sunday at Hae Hwa Dong, is more than a source of longganisa and tocino for Pinoy residents looking for a taste of home.

The market is seen by traders as a likely entry point for introducing new Mindanao food products to local consumers as the Korean importers and retailers who facilitated the entry of Philippine products at the Seoul Sunday market also market these products to other outlets.