Philippine exporters see restoration of fresh fruit exports to China

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine exporters are optimistic the country would be able to restore shipments of fresh fruits to China, while also complying with stringent quarantine rules of its newest ally.

“Let me assure you of the Philippine’s serious efforts to restore our exports of these fresh fruits which your people have also enjoyed through the years,” said Roberto Amores, food sector trustee at the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc.

“I have already mentioned the steps we have taken as part of the SPS protocols. These shall continue and improve further as we police our ranks to help ensure that no other disruptions will hamper our trade,” he said.

He was pertaining to the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures imposed by China on fresh mangoes and bananas from the Philippines back in 2012 at the height of the two countries’ confrontation in South China Sea.

China had said then it also found fresh pineapple and papaya exports infested with pests.

Since then, Amores said steps had been undertaken to improve export quality, including better packaging system and other additional requirements apart from the SPS measures on fresh fruit export.

He stressed the Philippines has been compliant with all global sanitation standards as demonstrated by the country’s exports elsewhere such as to Japan, the Middle East, the United States and Europe.

Amores, however, expressed opposition to the process of the fruits going through stricter vapour heat treatment, saying this will “only shorten their shelf life, unnecessarily add to the costs, and make exporters more uncompetitive with their ASEAN counterparts.”

According to Amores, the ASEAN-China free trade agreement was supposed to remove the tariffs, ”but in their place, more non-tariff measures such as this are being imposed.”

He said China allows the smooth entry of the same agricultural products from Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.

Last week, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said Chinese President Xi Jinping has lifted suspension of 20 banana and six mango exporters from the Philippines in line with President Duterte’s state visit to China.

In addition, Philexport said the Department of Agriculture has disclosed that Beijing has given the go signal for eight Philippine companies to export mangoes to China starting this month.

The group said three officials from the AQSIQ came to the Philippines last week for evaluation and possible renewal of the country’s accreditation, after a series of investigations, tests and evaluations were conducted through the past years.

The Philippines produces about 650,000 to 750,000 metric tons of mangoes yearly, making the country the seventh largest producer of mangoes in the world.

Hong Kong is the leading buyer of fresh mangoes, comprising for about 80 percent of its total overseas exports.

Meanwhile, banana exports of the Philippines to China last year stood at 448,000 metric tons which was valued at $157.5 million.

At present, the Philippines is the second largest producer of bananas worldwide and it continues to supply 95 percent of the total banana demand for the Asian market.