The Philippines will start shipping fresh mangoes to Australia this month, the Philippine Embassy in Canberra said Monday.
Alfredo Pascual, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual, also on Monday reported Japanese trading company Itochu Corp. through its subsidiary, DOLE Philippines, indicated plans to increase pineapple production volume in the country to 1 million metric tons by 2025.
The Philippine embassy in Canberra in a statement said for many years, Australians have been enjoying dried mangoes which has become a popular healthy snack in Australia.
“It is now time for Aussies to enjoy our much beloved fruit in the Philippines,” said Philippine ambassador to Australia Ma. Hellen De La Vega.
Since 2016, protocols have been in place for the export of mangoes to Australia and the Specific Commodity Understanding (SCU).
The SCU is an arrangement document for the importation of fresh mango fruit from the Philippines to Australia under Australia’s Biosecurity Act 2015, which have been amended and updated throughout the years to include export opportunities for Filipino mango farmers, according to Bureau of Plant Industry-National Plant Quarantine Services Division.
De La Vega said the winter season is the best time to make the fruit available in the market as Australia produces mangoes only from September through April. The Philippines produces mangoes all year round.
Alma Argayoso, Philippine trade representative to Australia, said there has been interest in mango exports in recent years but plans have been delayed by the pandemic.
In 2018, the Australian Embassy in the Philippines reported the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research provided AUS$1.1 million grant funding to a four-year project which passed on farming technology that improved mango quality and size for Davao farmers.
Meanwhile, Pascual on June 5 met with officials of Itochu in Tokyo as a followup to the presidential visit to Japan last February where the company entered into a Letter of Intent with the Department of Trade and Industry on their plan to increase their pineapple production in the Philippines.
With 30,000 workers under its employ, the Philippines will remain to be DOLE’s core production base in this whole business.
The meeting happened at the sidelines of the Asean-Japan Business Week 2023.
