RP to push for easier access to US, Aussie marts

Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Q. Montemayor will ask his counterparts from the United States and Australia to relax their sanitary and phytosanitary requirements to enable tropical fruit exports from the Philippines to enter their market more easily.

Montemayor leaves Saturday for Uruguay to attend a week-long meeting of he Cairns Group which includes Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Fiji, Hungary, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand and Uruguay.

Montemayor said he would meet with Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile and US Trade Representative Roberto Zoellick and possibly with US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to discuss how Philippine bananas, pineapple, mango and papaya will gain access to the US and Australian markets without having to go through stringent measures.

The Philippines, through Lapanday Foods Corp., exported its first shipment of super mango to Australia last June. The original shipment was 1,300 kilos but after subjecting it to vapor heat treatment in Manila, the volume was reduced to only 490 kilos.

The Cairns Group was formed in 1986 to push for elimination of trade distortions and help them compete in a global trade regime. The group accounts for 25 percent of global trade.

Sanitary and phytosanitary measures are considered non-tariff barriers usually imposed by countries to prevent the influx of imported fruits and food stuff that they suspect are carrying pests and diseases that may be harmful to their own standing crops.

Montemayor said the Philippines will prepare a more "developed strategy" on special and differential (SND) treatment with developed countries during the Cairns Group meeting.

"Since the level of development in agriculture has been slow in developing countries, we need more time and more flexibility (in our dealings) with the World Trade Organization," Montemayor said.

Montemayor said a risk analysis team sent by the Biosecurity Australia to the Philippines early August did not find any diseases in the banana and pineapple plantations that they visited in Davao.

The US has been enthusiastic about allowing the exports of Philippine bananas to that country, Montemayor noted.

"We have submitted our application to them to allow our bananas. I can’t recall the timeframe for this, but US Agriculture Counselor Chuck Alexander said the US is very open to our bananas.

The Philippines is not yet exporting bananas, pineapple and mangoes to America because an import analysis (IRA) is required prior to their entry to that country.