Pinoys in US urged to buy initial shipment of PHL bananas

Filipinos in the Los Angeles area in the United States were urged to buy bananas from the trial shipment from Bukidnon this weekend, saying this will open the door to more products from the Philippines to the US.

 

Philippine ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. made the pitch to US-based Filipinos as he said the highland cavendish bananas will be sold for the first time in select supermarkets this weekend.

 

“For us to successfully penetrate the highly competitive US banana market, we need to show that there is a strong demand for highland cavendish from the Philippines,” he said.

 

He noted at least four firms have expressed serious interest in joining Dole Philippines in penetrating the US market long dominated by banana-exporting countries in Latin America.

 

The embassy noted the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association had said four of its member-companies interested in exporting their highland cavendish to the US include:

 

- Dizon Group

- Nader & Ebrahim S/O Hassan Philippines Inc.

- Lapanday Foods Corp.

- Tagum Agricultural Development Company Inc. of the Anflo Group of Companies

 

For her part, Agriculture Attaché Josyline Javelosa said the US is the largest single country importer of bananas with a per capita consumption of 25 pounds.

 

“The Filipino-American community of over a million in the West Coast can play a crucial role in creating that ‘niche market’ for Philippine bananas in the huge and competitive US market," she said.

 

Last week, a trial shipment of 7.047 metric tons of highland cavendish from Mindanao arrived in Los Angeles. It is the first of a total of 3,000 metric tons to be shipped from the Philippines.

 

Earlier, Dole Fresh Fruit Co., a subsidiary of Dole Food Co. Inc., said the Bukidnon bananas will be marketed under Dole’s Sweetio brand.

 

They are to be sold this weekend in the fruits sections of Gelsons stores in Encino, Century City, Tarzana, Newport Beach, Pacific Palisades, Calabasas, Sherman Oaks, Silver Lake, West Hollywood and Hollywood and in the Walmart stores in Baldwin Park, Corona and City of Industry.

 

Dole will monitor the sales from this pilot test to draw up its future plans. — ELR, GMA News