Banana Ban May Cost RP $170 Million

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will lose some $170 million annually in foreign exchange earnings from bananas if the recent ban on fruit imports imposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran continues indefinitely.

Apart from this loss, 64,000 Filipinos would lose their jobs in banana plantations and in ancillary industries like carton manufacturing, trucking, port services, and shipping.

Stephen A. Antig, executive director of the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA), said the ban’s potential damage is equivalent to the loss of production for 16,000 hectares of plantations.

Iran is the country’s fourth largest export market for Cavendish bananas, next to Japan, China, and Korea.

Apart from Philippine bananas, Iran reportedly bans apples from France, pears from China, and oranges from Egypt, among others.

Antig said that it is equivalent to foregone revenues from 50,000,000 boxes of bananas per year.

Iran is locked in a bitter dispute with the United States, Israel and their allies over Tehran’s nuclear program, which Washington said was clearly aimed at producing nuclear weapons.

Tehran has denied the charge, saying the program is purely intended for power generation and non-military uses.

The US has been seeking support for sanctions against Iran for refusing have its nuclear program monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the UN.

Such dispute has led to a ban on trade with Iran and the beleaguered nation has slapped retaliatory measures against the US and other exporting countries like the Philippines, which is considered an ally of Washington.

Antig said PBGEA is lobbying with the Philippine government to work out an agreement with Iran that would permit the entry of bananas into its market.

The group wants Philippine bananas out of the list of prohibited items.

Apart from this lobby, PBGEA also seeks monetary and non-monetary relief for the industry, which had been working to secure a dominant position in the Middle East market.

Antig wants immediate relief for the industry until the situation stabilizes and Philippine banana exports are allowed into other markets in the Middle East and Europe.

“It is definitely a matter of grave concern and uncertainty for the industry,” declared Antig.

A meeting with officials of local government units (LGUs) in Mindanao has also been called by the association to assess the implications of the ban to the local economy.

PBGEA is marshalling all its resources to identify measures to mitigate the problems in the event that the downsizing of the industry becomes a necessity.

The association has also asked the Department of Agriculture (DA) to pitch in and join the meeting, along with heads of other agencies as well as representatives of small banana growers, cooperatives of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) and other industry stakeholders.

Marvyn Benaning, Manila Bulletin