Agriculture Secretary Luis P. Lorenzo Jr. said in an interview that USDA is opening up the Philippines’ expanded mango export to Hawaii and Guam which comes in light of the impending stoppage of the country’s mango export to US mainland due to high freight and inspection costs.
"Hawaii and Guam is now open to mangoes from all over the Philippines. We should be tapping that market," he said.
Luben Marasigan, quarantine service chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), said that government is in the process of complying with all USDA requirements for the export. Until lately, the Philippines has only been allowed to export fresh mangoes to the US from MSW-free Guimaras.
Yet, Trinidad Carlos, agriculturist at the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural and Marketing Assistance Service (DA-AMAS), said the potential for the US market is tremendous if the Philippines is allowed to export mango from all regions, although USDA, she said, still has to amend rules to enable this geographical expansion.
"It will be big because the US is the world’s largest mango importer," she said in a separate interview. "It will take 18 months to revise the Federal rule, but we are asking to have the processing fast-tracked."
Out of a big fresh mango production (955,886 metric tons, MT, as of 2002), the Philippines only exports a minimal volume. Records showed that the country only exported 30,600 MT from January to September 2003 which went mostly to Hong Kong, 20,180 MT; Japan, 6,902 MT; Korea, 1,056 MT; and Singapore, 364.3 MT.
While the US is a big market, the country’s export to it was just at 102 MT for the US mainland and 289 MT for Guam as of the same period since the US only allowed export from Guimaras.
With the export expansion in Guam and Hawaii, Carlos said the Philippines will have the advantage of proximity that would reduce freight cost. She said government is also looking into the controlled atmosphere technology, a cold chain system in sea transport, that could further bring down freight cost.
The controlled atmosphere technology is being experimented for the delayed ripening of mangoes by as much as 28 to 30 days during the process of shipment.
Carlos said that the Philippines’ petition with the USDA for sourcing expansion of mangoes banks on the premise that similar to allegations that the Philippines has the disease MSW, the same disease is also endemic to Hawaii and Guam.
