After penetrating the eastern European market, the Philippines has now begun exporting agricultural commodities to Singapore as well after it was able to pass the sanitary requirements of its Southeast Asian neighbor.
This further expands the reach of Filipino local products on a global scale as nations like Belarus and Singapore turn to other countries to diversify their sources of food.
Singapore’s new ambassador to the Philippines, Gerard Ho Wei Hong, visited Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol at the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Quezon City on Wednesday to express their government’s eagerness to receive the country’s first shipment of table eggs, chicken, pork and vegetables.
No volume has been disclosed by the agency.
“The young Singapore ambassador said his country is now looking at the Philippines as a reliable source of its food and agriculture imports,” Piñool said on his Facebook page.
The Secretary quoted Ho as saying that while Singapore had “traditionally relied on products from Malaysia and Indonesia,” it was now “looking at the Philippines as the new source of our food needs.”
This may also be due to Malaysia deciding to scale down its chicken egg exports to Singapore.
Last month, the Agriculture and Veterinary Agency (AVA) of Singapore arrived in the Philippines to check the country’s production and processing facilities for eggs, chicken and pork, to ensure that it would fit their standards.
Piñol said the AVA team was not able to inspect vegetable production areas but he assured the ambassador that the vegetable farmers, especially those from Bukidnon, were ready to plant and grow vegetables preferred by the Singaporean market.
The DA’s respective bureaus are currently completing other requirements to continue the exportation of food and agricultural products to Singapore.