Dole Phl eyes export of Cavendish bananas to US

MANILA, Philippines - Fruit grower Dole Philippines is not only eyeing the exportation of Cavendish bananas to American defense commissaries but also  to the US mainland as well, according to the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI).

BPI Director Clarito Barron said in a chance interview that the company has moved anew the date of the maiden exportation of 3,000 metric tons of Cavendish bananas to the United States to October because of delays in the processing of documents related to exportation protocol.

He said that according to the company’s export program, it is also looking into the exportation of bananas to US mainland particularly to California.

“Dole already has a program on the volume of bananas that they will be bringing to continental or mainland US,” said Barron.

“The next volume of shipment may depend upon the demand from the continental US. Once we sit down with them, we will be asking their detailed program of export.”

Barron said that aside from Dole, there are other fruit growers that have expressed interest in shipping bananas to the US.

“There are other interested companies who want to ship, but that would come later. They must be BPI accredited exporters,” he said.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala earlier said the export protocol for bananas between the Philippines and US had already been ironed out.

The Philippine banana industry set its sights on the US market after China imposed stricter sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements on Philippine banana exports last year at the height of a military standoff in Panatag Shoal.

Exporters who wish to tap the US market have been advised to invest in a ripening room in the mainland. 

Philippine banana exports rose 111 percent in 2012 despite export restrictions set by China in May 2012 and the devastation caused by Typhoon Pablo to banana plantations in Mindanao in December 2012. This was because of increased demand from the country’s premium markets.

The local banana industry managed to increase shipments of Cavendish bananas to 3.8 million metric tons in 2012 from 1.8 million MT recorded in 2011 because of increased demand from traditional markets like Japan and Korea, and the opening of new export markets such as Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan, and other Middle East countries.