More high-value crops lined for export to Russia

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is looking at increasing its agricultural exports, particularly high value crops, to Russia to boost the local farm industry.

Agriculture Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan said Russia may import high value crops such as bananas, mangoes, pineapples, avocados, calamansi and okra from the Philippines.

Bananas, pineapples, and mangoes remain to be among the top local produce being exported to international markets.

“The advantage of Russia, compared to other exporting countries, is the shorter distance to the Philippines,” Cayanan said.

The Russia-Philippines Joint Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation also expressed interest in bringing carageenan seaweeds to Russian local markets.

In return, Russian companies would also bring in grains, particularly wheat and barley, pork, cattle and poultry meats to the Philippines.

Russia remains to be one of the world’s biggest grain exporters, shipping over 40 million metric tons of grains to different countries annually.

The Department of Trade and Industry earlier said Russia has committed to increase the value of its imports from the Philippines to $2.5 billion from about $46 million.

In 2015, total trade between the Philippines and Russia amounted to $422 million.

The Philippines and Russia are also exploring possible cooperation in energy, infrastructure including railways and port facilities, machine engineering, hardware, agriculture, culture and tourism.