Philippines ships first 'atsuete' shipment to Vietnam

MANILA, Philippines - The Vietnamese can now color their food the Filipino way as Manla sent the first 20 metric tons of atsuete or annatto seeds to their country.

"The country’s farmers scored another breakthrough," the Department of Agriculture said in a statement Wednesday after a 20-foot container van was loaded with 400 sacks of atsuete seeds, a food colorant and additive, worth P1.3 million.

Assistant Agriculture Secretary Dante Delima said that most of the atsuete products came from Arakan, North Cotabato and from Davao City, where they were bought from local farmers at P45 to P50 per kilo.

Vegetable Importers, Exporters and Vendors Association of the Philippines president Leah Cruz said, that the Philippines still imports raw and power atsuete at 10,000 metric tons yearly, but the Vietnamese offered a worthy deal.

"They took the opportunity to export because the Vietnamese buyers offered a good price, and preferred the Philippine atsuete, which is of better quality than those from Africa, where they regularly import," Cruz said.

Cruz's company together with non-profit groups Lingkod Saka, Inc. and Sikat Saka are currently negotiating on a next batch of seeds at 40 metric tons to send to Vietnam, which is not the only country that has a demand for the red orange colorants.

"Importers from Hawaii and the US mainland are also interested to buy Philippine atsuete," Cruz added.

Atsuete is frequently used to make local dishes such as kare-kare and paella look more appetizing.