PH government tweaking incentives for banana industry

FILE PHOTO: Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo | PHOTO: RTVM

The Philippine government is already planning the changes in the fiscal incentives scheme for the local banana industry, ahead of the implementation this year of the country’s free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea, Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo said last week.

Rodolfo said this was among the number of preemptive moves by the government to make sure that things will go smoothly once the bilateral trade deal comes into force.

“We are also preparing, for example, our incentives regime for plantations. We are tweaking it now so that banana companies can then take advantage of it,” Rodolfo told reporters in a chance interview in Makati City.

“The South Korean embassy here has also been very active in the development of technical cooperation with them, for example, when it comes to mechanical equipment,” he added.

Asked when he saw the FTA being ratified by the Philippine side, Rodolfo said “by the middle of this year.”

He added that the ratification process in Seoul is also progressing, based on their communication with the Koreans.

In September of last year, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said that more than P170 million worth of locally produced agricultural goods each year—including bananas and processed pineapple—will be covered under the FTA.

Rodolfo had said back then that the 30-percent import tariffs currently levied to Philippine banana exports to South Korea will be reduced annually in equal increments, until it becomes zero on the fifth year of effectivity of the FTA.

Philippine exports of processed pineapple, which are currently subjected to a 36-percent import tariff, will also see a gradual tariff reduction in a span of seven years, he added.

The export value of these agricultural goods coming from the Philippines and shipped to South Korea is estimated to be worth more than $3 million annually, based on the DTI’s records.

Also last September, President Marcos announced the signing of the FTA during the 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia. INQ