Banana Import Duties Cut Pressed in Philippines

Philippine Government should move fast and cut deals to slash import duties slapped on Philippine banana exports.

Stephen Antig, executive director of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association Inc. (PBGEA), the umbrella of 33 banana exporting companies in 11 banana exporting Mindanao provinces, said such agreements are needed to protect their commodity and not lose its trading position to countries like Peru and Ecuador.

Speaking at the second round of the nationwide series on "Doing Business in Free Trade Areas" (DBFTA-II) last week in Davao City, Antig said bananas are still the country's biggest fruit exports and must be protected from such tradingbarriers as high import duties.

He noted that while the Philippine government had signed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with its trading partners, it should monitor the compliance of these countries on tariff reduction since it would be futile for the country to dismantle its tariff barriers while its partners are erecting the same for our products.

Even as the Philippines remains as the dominant supplier of fresh bananas to Japan, South Korea, China, and New Zealand, the industry is still worried that the country might lose its enviable position due to tariff barriers.

"Our market share might be frittered away in these free trade areas," added Antig, "if government would not be more aggressive in negotiating for reduced tariffs in countries where we export our bananas."

"There is a need for a thorough review of our free trade agreements (FTAs) and assess our trading partners' fulfillment of their commitments to ensure that we are at an outstanding edge in the trading game; in our case, the elimination or reduction of tariffs," Antig argued.

Cavendish, the variety that comprises bulk of exports, is still classified under the exclusion list of imports by most, if not all, of the country's trading partners.

"This means our buyers have to pay import duties ranging from 10 percent to 40 percent of the value of the goods. This would pose as a stringent constraint and encourages our importers to get fresh bananas from our competitors like Ecuador, Peru, and other producing countries at lower importation costs," Antig said.