Banana growers and exporters urge the government to accelerate the FTA with Seoul

Manila should speed up the conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Seoul that would allow Filipino banana exports to enter South Korea at lower rates and ensure that the country would not lose the East Asian market against South American competitors.

The Pilipino Banana Growers Association and Exporters (PBGEA) published this statement. "The Philippines could lose South Korea as the main export destination for locally produced bananas in three years unless tariffs are removed on this agricultural product to allow it to compete uniformly with local bananas. . " Other banana exports enter this lucrative market, "said PBGEA

" Low-cost banana imports from Central America have begun to lower the share of Philippine bananas in Korea. . n market and these could totally exclude us by 2022 unless we get the same zero tariff treatment as they do, "said PBGEA executive director Stephen Antig in a press release issued on Wednesday

PBGEA estimates, the loss of the South Korean market would result in export earnings of nearly $ 300 million for the country, the government losing 6.5 billion pesos in local tax revenue According to PBGEA, this would affect 32,000 workers and over 200,000 dependents in the domestic banana industry.

Paul Cuyegkeng, president of Sumifru Philippines Corp., said that banana growers Filipinos seek a level playing field in competition with exporters from other countries not only in South Korea, but also in Japan and China.

"We are talking about protecting the industry from Banana and save jobs, "said Cuyegkeng. "It would be very ironic if we lost jobs in the banana industry, which is mainly based in Mindanao, where the main program of our president, originally from this island, is creating jobs."

Alexander N. Valoria reported that five countries in South America – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama – recently concluded a free trade agreement with South Korea allowing them to export bananas to the Asian market. The eradication of tariffs on banana exports from the five countries will be fully implemented by 2021.

Valoria adds that Peru already benefits from a banana export without rights of South, while Colombia and Vietnam will benefit from the same treatment "Countries like Guatemala and Costa Rica currently export a small percentage of bananas to South Korea compared to the Philippines, but they could easily get out of this lucrative export market in three years because our bananas would be more Valoria explained that if the Korea-Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA) is favorable to the economies of Asia of the Southeast in many respects, it is "very disadvantageous" for the Philippines when it comes to the banana trade, because the fruit was on the very sensitive list (LGV) of Korea.

L & # 39, inclusion in the LGV means q banana is exempt from any customs tariff. The only way to compete with these South American countries in 2021 is to ensure that tariffs on Philippine banana exports, which are currently over 30 percent, are eliminated through 39, a separate FTA, Antig

"The high import duty of 30 percent on Philippine bananas is borne by the buyer in Korea, so even though our country is geographically closer, a man Businesses that plan to sell the fruit would prefer to buy from Central America.In the absence of the effective removal of the import tariff, the Philippines will undoubtedly lose the Korean market to competitors from Central America, "said Antig.

In 2017, the Philippines exported 376,659.44 metric units. tons (metric tons) of bananas in South Korea valued at $ 176.555 million, according to data from the Philippine Statistical Authority (APS). The volume was nearly 40 percent higher than the 269,461,431 tonnes exported in 2016, while the figure was 39.17 percent higher than the 126.859 million dollars in export earnings.

According to PBGEA, South Korea represents a market of 30 million boxes. production area of ​​8,000 hectares, equivalent to 390,000 mt.

Valoria noted that bilateral trade between the Philippines and South Korea is "heavily imbalanced" in favor of the latter. South Korean exports to the Philippines reached 8.465 billion dollars in 2017, while Philippine exports to Korea amounted to only 4.333 billion dollars, according to data from PSA

"With the growing deficit of agricultural trade, ) Pernia for increased government support to help Philippine exports.But beyond efforts to commercialize the country's export products, the government needs to assess the advantages and disadvantages of existing free trade agreements to reverse trade imbalances with bilateral or multilateral partners, as in the case of AKFTA ".