RP to export mangoes to US starting in May

Philippine mango exports to the United States, beginning next month, will only be required to undergo one vapor heat treatment at the Food Terminal Inc. prior to being shipped.

The Philippines will ship out an initial 1.8 tons of mangoes from Guimaras Island to the United States in early May, its first time to penetrate that market after 10 years of intense negotiations.

This was learned from Charles Alexander, agricultural counselor of the US Department of Agriculture and his subordinate, Michael Woolsey, agricultural adviser, in an interview at the USDA office in Makati yesterday.

According to the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS) of the Department of Agriculture, five or six private companies have applied for export permits to the US from Guimaras Island. But Lapanday Food Corp., which pioneered last year exports of mangoes to the Australian market, is not one of them, Francisco Lorenzo earlier said.

Previous reports said the USDA has been thinking of requiring Philippine mango and other fruits exporters to use the tradition technology, widely accepted in most developed countries, to get rid of fruit pests and diseases.

Similarly, Alexander said he has been personally asking the Philippine agriculture officials since 1998 to conduct scientific studies on other mango producing areas, prior to their being declared free of plant pest and diseases by the USDA, to ensure that there will be more sources of mango exports aside from Guimaras Island.

"I remember correctly that since I came into this country in 1998, I even asked the DA officials to use a part of the proceeds of the Public Law 480 (or the food commodity loan program of US) each year to fund these scientific studies in order to come up with more reliable sources of mango for the US market," Alexander said.

He said he went around the country and found other potential sources for Philippine mangoes to be expected to the US in Cebu, Panay, Negros, Pangasinan and even Mindanao.

The USDA has identified six plant pests and diseases (principally the fruit fly and seed weevil) on mangoes, which it wants to protect its local fruit industry from but which can only be expected from the pest-free zone of Guimaras Island.

The existing mango market in the US amounts to $220 million, 98 percent of which is filled by the Mexican producers. But Alexander is optimistic that given a reliable supply of mangoes from the Philippines, this market can expand to $1 billion a year.

The USDA, which is launching this week a mammoth food show on April 17 and 18 at the Intercontinental Hotel dubbed "The Great American Food Show 2002," so far the largest in Southeast Asia, is confident that the exhibit will provide Filipino food exporters a chance to get updated on the market requirements of the United States for tropical fruits and other agricultural products while at the same time opening up the minds of Filipino consumers on existing and new food products of America.

Woolsey estimated that around 10,000 new products are being produced in America every year but these are not being marketed there for sheer lack of supermarket space. "We wish to introduce these products in the Philippines and other markets," Woolsey said.