Banana exporters take diplomatic route to China

The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) is trying the diplomatic route to stabilize exports to China.

Beijing tightened the screening of Philippine bananas exports early this year amid clashing claims over the West Philippine Sea.

PBGEA executive director Stephen A. Antig said he had sought the help of Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing on the matter.

In the letter to the Chinese ambassador, Antig said the Philippines used to average 70 million boxes of banana shipments to China yearly. With the tighter screening process, he said the export volume might go down by 40 percent.

“It translates to a conservative estimate of $72 million (P3.02 billion) loss in revenues,” Antig said in the letter.

Sources said the envoy, through a third party, had signified interest to help in addressing this concern by organizing a meeting between Philippine banana exporters and Chinese importers.

Antig, in a phone interview, said PBGEA had not received a formal reply to his letter, although he confirmed hearing reports of the envoy being interested in helping address the banana exporters’ concerns. He said PBGEA had suggested that China send its own team regularly to the Philippines, especially to Mindanao where most banana plantations were located, to observe banana growing and packing.

“Hopefully, this will erase all doubts about Philippine phytosanitary standards, which is the primary argument of the Chinese government for restricting banana imports from the Philippines,” Antig said.

PBGEA has been looking for new markets for bananas in the Middle East and Europe as Japan, a premium market, is already saturated.

The Department of Agriculture is also exploring queries from the Middle East, Russia, Ukraine, Austria, and Croatia. The department said the Mindanao Banana Farmers and Exporters Association was scheduled to send a trial shipment of two 40-foot containers of Cavendish bananas to Qatar. Iraq is another target market and arrangements are being made for Iraqi importers to meet with Filipino banana exporters in Davao, the agriculture department said.

Stakeholders hope that solutions will crop up before supply goes down and puts long-term volume orders at risk. Some small farmers are apparently shifting to other crops due to present difficulties.

More than 500,000 people are dependent on the banana industry for their livelihood, according to industry data.

Industry observers said the Philippines must also improve logistics and supply chain solutions.

Local banana growers are also concerned with the occurrence of the Sigatoka plant disease that causes the leaves of the banana plant to turn brown. PBGEA has asked the DA to conduct an aerial survey to determine the areas affected by the disease.

Data from the National Statistics Office showed that Philippine banana exports last year reached 2 billion kilograms valued at $472.4 million FOB. Of the total, 403.4 kilograms, valued at $85.28 million FOB, went to China.

China’s tighter rules came in the wake of a standoff over the disputed Panatag Shoal in April, although certain Palace and agriculture officials claimed that the phytosanitary issues had been there even before then.