Vietnam approves import of Philippine plant-based products

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Philippine plant-based products have secured access to Vietnamese market after a two-year accreditation process, a senior Philippine government official said today.

Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Proceso Alcala said the government welcomes this breakthrough as he expressed hope that this could spur other countries' interest in agricultural products of the Philippines.

"Access to the Vietnamese market could further boost our competitive advantage in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) market in 2015, and serve as springboard for other opportunities for the Philippine agricultural sector in the international arena," he said.

With Vietnam's approval, fresh and processed fruit exporters would benefit most, said Ana Abejuela, Special Agriculture Representative of the Philippine Embassy in Thailand.

Among the promising exports are fresh Cavendish bananas and pineapple, processed fruits like dried mangoes, banana chips and canned pineapple products, and other products of plant origin that meet Vietnam's food safety control system standards, she said.

DA's Assistant Secretary for Regulations Paz Benavidez II admitted that the accreditation process had been challenging for the DA and the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) because the Philippine Food Safety Act was just approved and the implementing rules and regulations were yet to be finalized.

"Only big companies have food safety control systems in place. Small farmers are not even aware of the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), which is one of the requirements for exporters," Benavidez said.