The Department of Agriculture (DA) is seeking the help of Japan’s new envoy to Manila, Ambassador Endo Kazuya, to increase exports of local agricultural products.
Kazuya recently paid a courtesy call to DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. to discuss agricultural cooperation between the two countries, particularly details of the Memorandum of Cooperation between the DA and Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the recently adopted Asean-Japan Midori Cooperation Plan.
The two officials also discussed various topics, including sustainable agriculture initiatives, trade facilitation, market access concerns and DA’s hosting of the inaugural meeting of the Philippines-Japan Joint Committee on Agriculture scheduled on Thursday and Friday.
Tiu Laurel relayed to ambassador Kazuya the Philippines’ long-standing request for the reduction of tariffs for Philippine bananas, market access of fresh hass avocados, revival of mango exports to Japan and the possibility of regionalization to facilitate the export of processed poultry products to Japan.
DA said banana is the Philippines’ top agricultural export to Japan with a total volume between 2020 and 2023 reaching 3.4 million metric tons (MT), based on sanitary and phytosanitary permits issued.
The agency said a tariff reduction could further improve competitiveness and increase shipments of Philippine bananas to Japan where it is a major part of the Japanese diet.
Between January and April 15 this year, banana exports from the Philippines to Japan reached 241,282 MT.
During the discussions, Tiu Laurel also reiterated the Philippines market access request of fresh hass avocadoes to Japan as it was earlier agreed in principle during his last visit to Japan in December 2023.
As for mangoes, DA said that export of fresh mangoes has gone down significantly from 59 MT in 2021 to 11 MT in 2023 due to stringent enforcement of food safety regulations, particularly maximum residue levels due to pesticide use attributed to the presence of destructive mango pests and diseases like Cecid fly infestation.
