RP’s agriculture exports seen to grow 20% to $3.6B in ’06

Agricultural exports are projected to grow by 20 percent to $3.6 billion in 2006, from $3 billion this year.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup said the Department of Agriculture (DA) will be aggressively pushing for the development of new markets as well as the expansion of existing markets for Philippine agricultural products.

"There is a huge opportunity for the Philippines to increase its agricultural exports by pursuing new markets and increasing the volume of exports of traditional agri exports along with emerging agricultural products," said Salacup.

He said primary export products will continue to be coconut oil and coconut oil products, fresh bananas, banana chips, processed pineapples, fresh and dehydrated mangoes and fresh and processed fish and fishery products.

Salacup said exporters are also looking at finding new markets for emerging new products like geotextiles such as coco fiber and coco peat which are processed from coconut husks.

Demand for these products is particularly high in China which uses them for slope stabilization and desertification. A Filipino firm, Cocotechnologies Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding with Guangzhou Rivers Enterprise Co. Ltd. to supply coco coir and geotextiles, mats, bio-logs and coconut peat for soil erosion control.

The company has also developed a whole range of coco coir and peat-based products that are already being delivered to Japan, Europe and the US.

There is also a growing demand for abaca fiber which is now being used as raw material for the manufacture of car seat upholstery. Last year, a local manufacturer tied up with German car manufacturer Daimler-Benz for the supply of abaca fiber.

Salacup added that despite stringent quarantine rules, exports of fish and fishery products to Europe continue to grow.

To boost agricultural exports, Salacup said Filipino food exporters need to upgrade their manufacturing systems to comply with standards set by the the US and the European Union (EU).

The US and EU require all food exporters to secure a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification starting this year.

HACCP aims to minimize and control biological and chemical hazards in food by identifying potential sources of risk in food production, from the sourcing of raw materials to the production itself.

The HACCP certification covers food manufacturing, food catering and related services, food packing materials and medical devices.

Philippine exports to the US and the EU that are likely to be affected by the new product certification include fresh bananas, coconut oil, manufactured fertilizer, pineapple and pineapple products, copra oil, sugar, desiccated coconut, tuna, seaweeds and carrageenan, fresh mangoes, and shrimps and prawns.

These products are also finding new markets in China, South Korea, Japan, North America and the Middle East.