MANILA -- Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol is set to meet with his Japanese counterpart, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshikawa Takamori, on June 5 to discuss possible exportation of agricultural products as well as tariff issues on Philippine bananas.
Piñol, who accompanied President Rodrigo Duterte during his working visit to Japan on May 30-31, said he is leaving for Japan again Tuesday evening for the meeting with his counterpart.
"There will be four topics that I will discuss with my counterpart," he said in a press briefing on Monday.
First is the recognition of the Philippines as a foot and mouth disease (FMD)- free country, which is critical for the country's exports.
Second is the Philippines' market access for hass avocado "because we're starting to produce hass avocado," he said.
Hass avocado is a cultivar of avocado with dark green–colored, bumpy skin. All Hass avocado trees are descended from a single “mother tree”, which was raised by a mail carrier named Rudolph Hass, of La Habra Heights in California.
Piñol said the third topic that he will discuss with his Japanese counterpart is the Philippines' request to exempt compliant exporters from 100 percent mandatory exemption for bananas.
"The last is about lowering of tariff on Philippine bananas," he said.
The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) earlier urged President Duterte to discuss with the Japanese government the reduction or elimination of the hefty tariff rates on the Cavendish bananas during the latter's visit to Japan.
PBGEA executive director Stephen Antig said the banana export industry of the Philippines would lose the competition in the Japanese market if the imposition of tariff rates at eight percent during summer and a maximum of 18 percent during winter continue compared with competitors that enjoy zero tariff rates.
He said the banana industry would suffer and might even collapse "if we cannot replace markets lost due to high tariffs”.
According to the data released by the PBGEA, the Cavendish bananas export to Japan last year reached 635,962 metric tons (MT), an increase of 6.8 percent compared with 595,677 MT in 2017.
Piñol said that in the bilateral talks between President Duterte and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week, the latter expressed willingness to take a look on the issue of lowering tariff on Philippine bananas.
"I'm expecting positive results with my talk to my Japanese counterpart, and the presence of the President (Duterte) there (last week) discussing these issues gave way to our appeal," he said.
Piñol said the decision of the Philippines "to lift the ban for fish species coming from Fukushima "has opened up a window opportunity for us kasi parang goodwill gesture natin yun. Hopefully, they will respond to us," he added.
The Philippines has lifted a seven-year-old ban on the importation of several fish species from Fukushima Prefecture as a gesture of goodwill during the working visit of President Duterte and his Cabinet members to Japan. (PNA)
