Philippine mangoes outside Guimaras expected to gain access soon to US market

REPORT FROM BUSINESSWORLD The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) -- through Dennis B. Voboril, director of the agriculture trade office in the US embassy in Manila -- said over the weekend that more Philippine mangoes will be allowed entry to Hawaii and Guam this year. "We expect the approval of requests from the Philippines to ship fresh mangoes to Guam and Hawaii later this year from sources other than Guimaras, except for Palawan," he said in a press release. Philippine mango exports to the United States are currently limited to various areas in the US mainland, and are sourced only from Guimaras Island, following the area’s quarantine and a consequent declaration that the area is free from the mango pulp and mango seed weevil diseases. The export restriction was due mainly to the mango seed weevil and mango pulp weevil disease, which had hit Palawan in the 1980s. USDA had made irradiation a phytosanitary standard requirement in the treatment of mango exports, particularly from areas outside Guimaras, to rid them of mango seed weevil and mango pulp weevil disease. Philippine mango exporters have been using the less expensive vapor heat treatment method. The US had earlier provided the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), an agency attached to the Philippine Department of Agriculture, a $2-million grant to conduct a three-year study on problems affecting Philippine mangoes. "There will be a survey of pests in the mango-producing areas in the Philippines and, depending on the pest, develop a treatment or protocol to prevent its spread. The funds for the study are already deposited and it is scheduled to start this August," said Mr. Voboril, explaining that the study aims to help mango-producing areas besides Guimaras. While BPI had concluded in a 2004 study that locally grown mangoes are free of mango seed and mango pulp weevil disease, the agency acknowledged that the US-funded study should particularly upgrade the quality of mangoes grown outside Guimaras. The Philippines is ranked sixth among the world’s mango exporters, accounting for just 9% of the global market. Currently, mangoes from all over the country except Palawan are being exported to Japan, New Zealand, China, Canada, the Middle East, the European Union, and Korea. -- BTN/BusinessWorld