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Philippine banana group says coronavirus dampens exports to China

Published 02/17/2020, 06:32 PM
Updated 02/17/2020, 06:40 PM
Philippine banana group says coronavirus dampens exports to China

MANILA, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Work stoppages and market
closures in China stemming from a coronavirus epidemic are
hurting small- and medium-sized banana growers in the
Philippines, the world's second largest exporter of the fruit,
an industry group said on Monday.
Mainland China is one of the Southeast Asian nation's
biggest buyers of bananas, its top agricultural export. Together
with Japan, it bought more than half the Philippines' exports of
the fruit last year.
The Philippines' banana shipments last year were valued at
$1.93 billion, up roughly 40% from the previous year, and
accounting for 3% of overall exports.
Representatives of the Pilipino Banana Growers & Exporters
Association met farm ministry officials on Monday to tackle the
industry challenges, including the virus outbreak.
"The China problem is not as serious for the big exporters
because of their existing contracts with the importers," said
Stephen Antig, the group's executive director. The hardest hit are the small- and medium-sized growers who
deal with spot buyers, he added.
"Their shipments cannot be readily delivered, because of the
work shutdown and closure of markets," Antig told Reuters in an
email. "Chances are, some of the fruit will get rotten on the
piers sooner or later."
The initial impact of the shipment woes on banana exports is
likely to show up in January trade data to be released next
month, he said.
"For now, it is very difficult to come up with figures, even
rough estimates."
Talks with logistics providers and efforts to identify other
potential markets were among the key steps the ministry plans to
help resolve the problem, Antig said.

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