Chinese authorities yesterday continued to
refuse entry to some 1,500 containers containing Cavendish banana because of an
alleged finding that fruits earlier sent by Mindanao banana growers there
showed signs of disease found only in coconuts.
Stephen
Antig, president of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association—which
groups 18 companies in Mindanao—said that as of 3 p.m. Thursday, the bananas
were being left to rot at the ports of Dalian, Shanghai, and Xingang as Chinese
authorities insisted on the country’s new phytosanitary rules for bananas
arriving from the Philippines.
“Mindanao
exporters feel we are being harassed,” Antig said, adding that it could be
related to the standoff between the Philippines and China at Scarborough Shoal
in the West Philippine Sea.
He
said, however, that the exporters’ group did not want “to think of it as
political because we are businessmen.”
In
Manila, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda reiterated an earlier
statement playing down a link between the Scarborough dispute and the new
inspection rules in China for Philippine fruit exports.
Lacierda
said the tighter inspections were a “technical issue” and the regulatory
agencies of the Philippines and China were dealing with it.
Antig
said Chinese authorities claimed the inspection of the cargoes was going on
after they found Aspidiotus destructor in some containers inspected in March.
That,
among other issues, had triggered the stricter inspection, Antig said, although
everyone knew the Aspidiotus is found only in coconuts. Antig said they feared
that the bananas could rot.
Antig
said the ports had limited power facilities and the air-conditioned containers
were left unplugged.
“The
bananas are being held in the ports for inspection when in just a matter of
three days, the bananas can turn into vinegar,” he said.
1
billion pesos losses
Antig
said banana exporters had lost some 1 billion pesos since China started
applying the new rules in March.
“I hope
this is really not political because we are in the business. We don’t want to
believe that the life of the banana industry is threatened by our country’s
problem with China,” Antig said.
Task
force formed
Agriculture
Secretary Proceso Alcala told the exporters that a task force had been formed
to deal with the problem. If needed, members of the task force would accompany
the shipments to monitor quarantine procedures in the destination.
The
banana exporters had scheduled a meeting in Panabo City for yesterday but
cancelled it, as China might misconstrue it as part of the protests in Manila
against Chinese intrusion on Scarbourough Shoal.
A source
from Philexport Mindanao, who asked not to be named, said the meeting was aimed
at calling the government’s attention to and asking for help on the stricter
quarantine procedures in China.
Reports
from Germelina Lacorte and Ayan Mellejor, Inquirer Mindanao, and Norman
Bordadora
News
Desk
Philippine
Daily Inquirer
Business & Investment Opportunities
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