Phl bananas hit stores in LA

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga , Philippines   â€“ The Philippines has become the first Asian country to export bananas to the US.

The Philippine embassy in Washington announced yesterday that the first shipment of the country’s bananas harvested in Bukidnon will be sold in Los Angeles markets next week.

“The bananas, which arrived in the US last Sept. 9, have been transferred to a ripening warehouse and will be available in local stores in LA next week,” said an email sent to The STAR by Philippine embassy spokesman Consul Elmer Cato.

Agriculture attaché Josyline Javelosa said the arrival of the shipment, the first of an estimated 3,000 metric tons that the US hopes to import from the Philippines this year, came almost eight years after the Philippines first requested market access for its bananas.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia said that “with arrival of the maiden shipment of 7.047 metric tons of highland bananas at the Port of Long Beach near Los Angeles, the Philippines has earned the distinction of being the first Asian country to export bananas to the US.”