Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said the eight exporters are the Fruitful Harvest Corp., Mabuhay 2000 Inc., PhilHarvest Agro Marketing Corp., Diamond Star Agro Products Inc., DHM Philippine Produce Inc., Wenatchee Marketing Corp., HiLas Marketing Corp., and Marsman Drysdale Food Corp.

Beijing relayed the news in a letter sent last April 18 to Undersecretary for Special Concerns Berna Romulo Puyat by Liang Wentao, the Chinese Embassy’s Economic and Commercial Counselor.

Leaders of the mango industry trooped to the DA last Monday to thank agriculture officials for helping them win China as an export market.

Among them were 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 mango growers and exporters, we thank the DA and Beijing 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.

Beijing’s move would further strengthen existing bilateral ties between the two countries, according to the DA.

The exporters complied fully with the requirements for extended hot water treatment (EHWT) as specified last year by inspectors and technical staff from China, DA said.

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 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.

Mango is among the Philippines’ top exports to China, which accounts for about 80 percent of total overseas sales of the fruit.

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," she added.

DA data show that around 500,000 metric tons (MT) of mangoes of the total 800,000 MT of annual production will be harvested during these peak months of March and April.

The EHWT, which had been perfected by the DA’s Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and the University of the Philippines in Los Banos (UPLB), will reduce the cost of exporting mangoes to China by at least R20 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, and this figure would rise significantly starting this year as a result of Beijing’s approval of the EWHT technology.