By EDGARD HILARIO
The country’s continuous foray in the international market of local crops netted over P200 million for Philippine tropical fruits, and gave leading Filipino exporters and producers who participated in the recently held 8th Cross Strait Floral Expo in China a very positive outlook for the remainder of 2007.
Roberto Amores, the president of the Export Development Council (EDC) and Philippine Food Exporters (Philfoodex) said Filipino exporters who participated in the floral expo in Fujian province last November have already booked orders for fresh and processed mangoes worth R150 million and R50 million more for banana chips.
The initial P200 million in projected additional sales for the local fruit industry this year stemmed from the recent trade and investment mission, which Secretary Arthur Yap of the Department of Agriculture (DA) led to China in November last year, and which had yielded a total of P9 billion in investment deals and pledges from Chinese officials and investors who will do business in the Philippines.
The P9 billion in investment pledges formed a substantial portion of the 17 memorandums of agreement covering a million hectares of croplands for agribusiness development, which were signed by Manila and Beijing officials during the recent two-day state visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jia Bao in the country.
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