Banana growers seek lower tariffs

A group representing banana growers and exporters has urged government to aggressively negotiate for reduced tariffs in countries where the Philippines exports its products.

While the Philippines remains the dominant supplier of fresh bananas to Japan, South Korea, China and New Zealand, the local banana industry is apprehensive that it may lose its market shares without seeking more favorable tariffs, said Stephen Antig, executive director of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association, Inc. (PBGEA).

PBGEA is the umbrella organization of 33 banana-exporting companies in 11 provinces in Mindanao.

Banana still tops the list of exported fresh fruits from the country, PBGEA said, citing reports presented during the second round of the nationwide series on “Doing Business in Free Trade Areas” (DBFTA-II) held last week in Davao City.

“There is a need for a thorough review of our free trade agreements (FTAs) and assess our trading partners’ fulfillment of their commitments to ensure that we have at an outstanding edge in the trading game; in our case, the elimination or reduction of tariffs,” Antig said.

At present, cavendish, the variety that is most exported, is still classified under the exclusion list of imports by most, if not all of the Philippines’ trading partners, PBGEA said.

“That means our buyers have to pay import duties ranging from 40 to 10 percent of the value of the goods. This would pose as a stringent constraint and encourages our importers to get fresh bananas from our competitors like Ecuador, Peru and other producing countries at lower importation costs,” Antig said.

Antig said Ecuador recently reported a three-fold increase in banana exports to South Korea during the first five months of this year, from 4.2 million tons in 2010 to 11.5 million tons.

The Philippines ranks second to Ecuador as the top banana-exporting country in the world. But competitiveness may slip without support from the Philippine government, Antig said.