According to the Philippines Department of Agriculture, a Russian company has placed an order of two tons of mangoes a week with growers in Guimaras.
“The Exim Pacific company … has initially placed an order of two metric tons of Guimaras mangoes every week, as soon as the farmers are able to export,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol stated this week. “It’s a major breakthrough for us in the Eastern European market. We’re hoping that this will be the beginning of our entry into the European market,” he added.
The mangoes will be shipped to Russia via Bangkok, pending the development of more direct shipping links.
The DA has said that it is expecting mango imports to Russia to start as early as April. Foreign demand for mangoes has been building up in the past two years pending development of sufficient capacity in the Guimaras mango industry and other key growing areas like Zambales, Pangasinan, Cebu, Iloilo, the Davao Region, the Zamboanga Peninsula, and Cotabato.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), mango output in the fourth quarter of 2018 rose 0.5% year on year to 27,620 tons. Zamboanga Peninsula accounted for 26% of total output, while Caraga and Northern Mindanao accounted for 24.1% and 15.4%, respectively.
Source: bworldonline.com
