Sembikiya Fruit Co. Ltd., one of the oldest fruit shops in Japan, said bananas and pineapples from the Philippines are preferred by its customers. However, these attributes are not enough to guarantee that local producers would get a bigger share of the fruit market in Japan and other countries.
The Philippines is losing market share to other competitors, such as Ecuador. More bananas from the Latin American country are entering Japan because logistics woes have made it difficult for Philippine exporters to deliver their commitments to foreign customers.
Problems related to logistics have been added to the list of hurdles confronting local banana growers who have been grappling with the spike in production cost and the spread of Fusarium wilt or Panama disease in their plantations. The country’s banana exports plunged to a six-year low last year, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Source: businessmirror.com.ph
