UPLBRDE News Service

Beijing has given the go signal for eight Philippine companies to export mangoes to China starting this month, a move that is expected to benefit the country's 2.5 million growers of this premier tropical fruit export, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said yesterday. Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said eight exporters are the Fruitful Harvest Corporation, Mabuhay 2000 Incorporated, Phil-Harvest Agro Marketing Corporation, Diamond Star Agro Products Inc., DHM Philippine Produce Inc., Wenatchee Marketing Corporation, HiLas Marketing Corporation and Marsman Drysdale Food Corporation. Beijing relayed this positive development in a letter sent to Undersecretary for Special Concerns Berna Romulo Puyat by Liang Wentao, the Chinese Embassy's Economic and Commercial Counselor.

Industry leaders thank DA

As this developed, leaders of the mango industry trooped to the DA last Monday to thank agriculture officials led by Yap for helping them secure Beijing's approval to export the Philippine fruit to China. These mango industry leaders and growers included Jean Lui, owner of Fruitful Harvest, Estrella Gonzales of Philippine Harvest, Tony Tiu of Mabuhay 2000 and Reynaldo Mangilit of Diamond Star.

"On behalf of the country's mango growers and exporters, we thank the DA, led by Secretary Yap, and Beijing's quarantine officials as well for helping us and our 2.5 million mango farmers, penetrate China's multibillion-dollar fruit market," said Lui. Also present during the visit to the DA office were William Co, former agricultural attache to China; Qiu Zhijun, First Secretary, Office of Commercial and Economic Affairs of the Chinese Embassy; and Liang Wen Tao, Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy.

New treatment passes global and China standards

Yap said Beijing's move would further strengthen existing bilateral ties between the two countries. "Our exporters have fully complied with the requirements for extended hot water treatment as specified last year by inspectors and technical staff from AQSIQ," Yap said. "Beijing's nod to the treatment facilities set up by our mango exporters is very timely because this is now the peak of the mango harvest season."

Puyat said Beijing gave the go-ahead after officials from its General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) visited Manila last month to check on food safety and treatment facilities for Philippine mango exports. "Our mango exporters want to relay their thanks to the Chinese quarantine officials for recognizing the efforts that they have done to make treatment facilities for Philippine mangoes at par with international sanitary and phytosanitary standards," Puyat said.

China earlier accepted the cheaper but effective Extended Hot Water Treatment (EHWT) that the DA had developed in tandem with the country's premier research institutions as a qualified technology to ensure that Philippine mango exports meet global food-safety standards.

More income for RP’s farmers

Mango is among the Philippines' top exports to China, which accounts for about 80% of total overseas sales of this tropical fruit. Yap said the DA's sustained efforts to open more markets overseas for Philippine farm produce is in step with President Arroyo's "Pagkain sa Bawat Mesa, Negosyo sa Sakahan-Laban sa Kahirapan" goal. Puyat noted that "the viability of the fresh mango industry and the millions of farmers and their families who rely on it for their livelihood depends heavily on their ability to export their produce to China."

"Similarly, the substantial investments in EHWT facilities that have been required by AQSIQ also lay idle and need to be productive so that our exporters can recover their expenses in setting up such facilities," Puyat said. DA data show that around 500,000 metric tons of mangoes of the total 800,000 MT of annual production will be harvested during these peak months of March and April.

Puyat said China's go-signal for Philippine mango exports would translate into higher incomes for some 2.5 million mango farmers in the country. The EHWT, which had been perfected by the DA's Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna (UPLB) will lower the cost of exporting mangoes to China by at least P20 a kilo, thus spelling higher profits for Filipino exporters in the world's largest food market. Philippine mango exports to China in 2007 reached 933.33 MT, which Yap expects to rise significantly starting this year as a result of Beijing's approval of the EWHT technology.