After 10 years, Australians will soon be tasting the Guinness Book of World Records “sweetest mango in the world” as the first batch of shipment arrived in Sydney and Perth on September 7.
The initial shipment of the most popular mango variety, Carabao, were harvested from the local farms in Malalag, Digos, Bansalan and Magsaysay municipalities in Davao del Sur.
The Philippines announced in June that it will start to send an initial shipment of fresh carabao mangoes to Australia, the first after almost 10 years since a trial shipment was made in 2013.
From the 94,000 metric tons (MT) output in the same quarter of 2022, the Philippine mango production during the first quarter of 2023 projected an increase of 2 percent at 96,000 as published by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Meanwhile, data from the Philippine Department of Agriculture’s High Value Crops Development Program showed that the country’s export of fresh mango increased from 8,804 MT in 2018 to 11,498 MT in 2022, with Hong Kong being the top market, next is Korea and Japan respectively.
“The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) maximizes the country’s untapped export potential through the launch of the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) and in conjunction with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement’s (RCEP) entry in to force last June. The PEDP aims to address challenges that the Philippines face in different sectors of the economy particularly the exports sector by capitalizing on the country’s export growth opportunities,” said DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual in a statement.
Arrangements are made possible by FastboxPH, a Sydney-based e-Commerce and logistics company and 3SIXTY5 Freight and Customs Pty Ltd with the support of the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Sydney and the Bureau of Plant Industry-National Plant Quarantine Services Division of the Department of Agriculture.
The Australia Philippines Business Council (APBC), the premier business organization dedicated to promoting trade and investment between Australia and the Philippines, welcomed this positive trade development between the two countries.
APBC further affirmed that mango export not only boosts agri-trade between Western Australia and Mindanao but also contributes to the sustainability of the Manila-Perth-Manila flight recently launched by Philippine Airlines (PAL).
PAL is the only carrier that can offer seamless transfer from Davao or General Santos City to Manila and immediately connect to Perth under one warehouse.
