PH may export bananas to US territory by yearend

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines may finally be able to export bananas to the Marshall Islands, a territory of the United States, by November or December this year.

Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Clarito Barron said they received positive feedback during banana export consultations with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“I received this information via email from the USDA. They are already finalizing comments that were raised during the consultations,” Barron said.

He said the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (Aphis) in the Philippines made the assurance that local bananas will soon gain access to the Defense Commissary Agency (Deca) of the US.

The US Department of Defense operates over 250 Deca establishments worldwide.

Bananas to Beijing

Barron also said the Chinese quarantine office also allowed the entry of 17,787 container vans equivalent to 356,092 metric tons (MT) of bananas valued at $71 million to Beijing.

He said only 659 containers of bananas were rejected. These are equivalent to around 7,300 MT and amounts to $20 million.

“We are seeing that China is easing its restrictions on (Philippine) bananas. There will still be interceptions, but we believe these have gone down,” said Barron.

China is the second biggest market of the Philippines for bananas, next to Japan. Banana exports to China reached 358,000 MT worth P4.75 billion in 2011. – Rappler.com