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Posted May 12th, 2012
by Christine F. Herrera & filed under Feature.
Fruit exports worth P700M rotting in four ports
ABOUT P700 million worth of Cavendish bananas from the Philippines have been
rotting in the major Chinese ports after they were denied entry because of Beijing
s territorial dispute with Manila over the Scarborough Shoal, the president of
the Kidapawan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ramon Floresta, said Friday.
The Mindanao plantation owners and farmers urge President Benigno Aquino III to
immediately intervene and fast-track the settlement of the dispute, Floresta
told the Manila Standard. Chinese traders have stopped buying bananas and
pineapples from us. With firm resolve, the standoff can be settled diplomatically.
The Philippine government has to do it fast. The products are being made to rot
in Chinas ports and we shoulder the huge losses. The freight alone costs $1,200
per container.
Floresta said 1,000 containers full of bananas landed in Beijing and Shanghai last
week, and that 800 more containers were in transit.
Each 40-foot container held 1,550 boxes of Cavendish banana or 2.79 million boxes,
with each box worth $6, Floresta said.
The last shipment for the month had been harvested and were being packed, but
Mindanaos160; businessmen had found there were no more buyers, he said.
Floresta says the Philippines exports 30 percent of its banana production three
times a month to China, a voyage that takes seven days. Bananas are planted to
50,000 hectares in Mindanao and are harvested daily year round.
The Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association on Friday said the more
stringent quarantine measures in China could jeopardize the countrys P4.75-
billion banana industry.
This will greatly affect the local banana industry. Not just exporters like us
but people on the ground, those who work in the farm and their families, group
president Steve Antig said.
About 50,000 people depended on the industry in Mindanao alone, he said.
Floresta said the Chinese traders had been told that the tougher restrictions on
Philippine fruit exports was in retaliation for Manilas strict restrictions on
pork and chicken imports.
But Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon said China accounted for very little of the
countrys pork and chicken imports, most of which were coming from the US, Canada
and Europe.
Abono chairman and Swine Development Council director Rosendo So said the
Philippines stopped importing pork, chicken and Peking ducks from China when that
country was hit with foot-and-mouth disease and bird flu.
We stopped importing pork, chicken and Peking ducks from China way before the
Scarborough standoff, So said.
Floresta said the farm gate price of bananas had been dropping. From $4.50 per
13.5-kilo box it went down to $3.20, and now the price was only $2.80 a box.
Even at $2.80 no one is buying anymore, he said.
During the same period last year the farm gate price reached as high as $7 a
box.
Floresta said Mindanaos plantation owners expanded their farms when China opened
its market to the Philippines. He himself expanded his banana plantation to 300
hectares from 250.
From 30,000 hectares of banana plantations in Mindanao, the region now has a
total of 50,000 hectares as a result of expansion, Floresta said.
Antig said Mindanao growers would not be able to export their excess production to
traditional markets since they were already saturated.
The Philippines also exports bananas to Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, the United States
and Australia. China is the second biggest export market for Philippine bananas
next to Japan. The banana exports that country accounted for 19 percent of the
total in the first two months of this year.
We do not want to believe that the situation has something to do with the
ongoing territorial spat with China, although some say that this could be
politically motivated, Antig said.
Figures from the Bureau of Animal Industry showed that the banana exports to China
reached 358,000 metric tons in 2011. The pineapple and papaya exports to that
country reached 1.165 million metric tons and 309,350 metric tons, respectively.
Animal Bureau Director Clarito Baron said the Philippine government was already
taking the necessary action to reverse the trade restrictions imposed by China.
We will do our best to restore Chinas confidence in our system and avert
possible ramifications to our banana growers and exporters, he said.
Beijing has ordered 100-percent inspection of all fruit coming from Manila after
it allegedly160; discovered pests from a randomly inspected shipment.
On Friday, the Palace ordered the Tourism Department to work harder on other
markets amid reports that Chinese travel agencies had suspended travel to the
Philippines with the escalation of the standoff at the Scarborough Shoal.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda assured Chinese nationals that despite the
ongoing global protest of Filipinos overseas to denounce Beijings actions in the
disputed shoal, cultural and people-to-people relations between the two countries
remained very good.
Wed like to assure our Chinese friends that the government did not have a hand
[in the protests.], he said
It was the decision taken by private citizens who feel out of patriotism that
they have to speak on the issue.
An official of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies said they
were still gathering information on the Chinese suspension of tours.
Group president Robert Lim Joseph said they were coordinating with members to
assess the impact of the latest developments. With Othel V. Campos, Joyce Pangco
Pa241;ares and Macon Ramos-Araneta
160;
(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/May/12
Sorry For wrong place!
by Christine F. Herrera & filed under Feature.
Fruit exports worth P700M rotting in four ports
ABOUT P700 million worth of Cavendish bananas from the Philippines have been
rotting in the major Chinese ports after they were denied entry because of Beijing
s territorial dispute with Manila over the Scarborough Shoal, the president of
the Kidapawan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ramon Floresta, said Friday.
The Mindanao plantation owners and farmers urge President Benigno Aquino III to
immediately intervene and fast-track the settlement of the dispute, Floresta
told the Manila Standard. Chinese traders have stopped buying bananas and
pineapples from us. With firm resolve, the standoff can be settled diplomatically.
The Philippine government has to do it fast. The products are being made to rot
in Chinas ports and we shoulder the huge losses. The freight alone costs $1,200
per container.
Floresta said 1,000 containers full of bananas landed in Beijing and Shanghai last
week, and that 800 more containers were in transit.
Each 40-foot container held 1,550 boxes of Cavendish banana or 2.79 million boxes,
with each box worth $6, Floresta said.
The last shipment for the month had been harvested and were being packed, but
Mindanaos160; businessmen had found there were no more buyers, he said.
Floresta says the Philippines exports 30 percent of its banana production three
times a month to China, a voyage that takes seven days. Bananas are planted to
50,000 hectares in Mindanao and are harvested daily year round.
The Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association on Friday said the more
stringent quarantine measures in China could jeopardize the countrys P4.75-
billion banana industry.
This will greatly affect the local banana industry. Not just exporters like us
but people on the ground, those who work in the farm and their families, group
president Steve Antig said.
About 50,000 people depended on the industry in Mindanao alone, he said.
Floresta said the Chinese traders had been told that the tougher restrictions on
Philippine fruit exports was in retaliation for Manilas strict restrictions on
pork and chicken imports.
But Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon said China accounted for very little of the
countrys pork and chicken imports, most of which were coming from the US, Canada
and Europe.
Abono chairman and Swine Development Council director Rosendo So said the
Philippines stopped importing pork, chicken and Peking ducks from China when that
country was hit with foot-and-mouth disease and bird flu.
We stopped importing pork, chicken and Peking ducks from China way before the
Scarborough standoff, So said.
Floresta said the farm gate price of bananas had been dropping. From $4.50 per
13.5-kilo box it went down to $3.20, and now the price was only $2.80 a box.
Even at $2.80 no one is buying anymore, he said.
During the same period last year the farm gate price reached as high as $7 a
box.
Floresta said Mindanaos plantation owners expanded their farms when China opened
its market to the Philippines. He himself expanded his banana plantation to 300
hectares from 250.
From 30,000 hectares of banana plantations in Mindanao, the region now has a
total of 50,000 hectares as a result of expansion, Floresta said.
Antig said Mindanao growers would not be able to export their excess production to
traditional markets since they were already saturated.
The Philippines also exports bananas to Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, the United States
and Australia. China is the second biggest export market for Philippine bananas
next to Japan. The banana exports that country accounted for 19 percent of the
total in the first two months of this year.
We do not want to believe that the situation has something to do with the
ongoing territorial spat with China, although some say that this could be
politically motivated, Antig said.
Figures from the Bureau of Animal Industry showed that the banana exports to China
reached 358,000 metric tons in 2011. The pineapple and papaya exports to that
country reached 1.165 million metric tons and 309,350 metric tons, respectively.
Animal Bureau Director Clarito Baron said the Philippine government was already
taking the necessary action to reverse the trade restrictions imposed by China.
We will do our best to restore Chinas confidence in our system and avert
possible ramifications to our banana growers and exporters, he said.
Beijing has ordered 100-percent inspection of all fruit coming from Manila after
it allegedly160; discovered pests from a randomly inspected shipment.
On Friday, the Palace ordered the Tourism Department to work harder on other
markets amid reports that Chinese travel agencies had suspended travel to the
Philippines with the escalation of the standoff at the Scarborough Shoal.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda assured Chinese nationals that despite the
ongoing global protest of Filipinos overseas to denounce Beijings actions in the
disputed shoal, cultural and people-to-people relations between the two countries
remained very good.
Wed like to assure our Chinese friends that the government did not have a hand
[in the protests.], he said
It was the decision taken by private citizens who feel out of patriotism that
they have to speak on the issue.
An official of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies said they
were still gathering information on the Chinese suspension of tours.
Group president Robert Lim Joseph said they were coordinating with members to
assess the impact of the latest developments. With Othel V. Campos, Joyce Pangco
Pa241;ares and Macon Ramos-Araneta
160;
(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/May/12
Sorry For wrong place!
