PHL banana exports outperform expectations

Philippine bananas overcame the restrictions imposed by China and the devastation of plantations in Mindanao last month, buoyed by higher shipments to traditional and alternative markets.

 

Banana exports grew more than 110 percent to 3.8 million metric tons last year from 1.8 million MT in 2011, Bureau of Plant Industry director Clarito Baron revealed in a speech during the bureau's 83rd anniversary celebrations on Thursday. 

 

“There was a significant increase in volume in major importing countries like Japan and Korea,” Barron told reporters in an interview after his address. 

 

The combined shipments of 1 million MT to Japan and South Korea more than made up for the 

losses in China, said Baron. 

 

Then the shipments to new destinations Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan, and other Middle East countries gave the banana industry a much needed boost, he added. 

 

“China remained our third biggest market, next to Japan and Korea. But they still play a big role as one of our biggest banana export markets,” Baron noted.

 

The stricter pythosanitary measures imposed by Chinese authorities at the height of a the territorial dispute between Manila and Beijing over Panatag Shoal in West Philippine Sea last year may soon be a thing of the past, he added, saying Chinese quarantine officials have noted an improvement in the quality of Philippine shipments. 

 

The Department of Agriculture, the Plant Bureau's mother agency, expects the banana industry to further grow this year with the first ever shipment of 3,000 MT to the US happening in the first quarter.

 

The shipment by Dole Philippines, scheduled last December, was canceled after typhoon Pablo destroyed Cavendish plantations in Mindanao early last month to meet the export obligations to Japan and South Korea.

 

The US Department of Agriculture approved the maiden shipment and it was “a dream come true” for contract growers who have been hankering about the US market, Baron told reporters in a separate interview last October. — VS, GMA News