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Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Banana exports get stiff competition from Vietnam
By Christie Enriquez-Uayan
* Trade and industry officer says exporters must look into pricing of export produce if they intend to remain competitive in global market
TOTAL value of regional exports from January to September this year showed a slight reduction of .05 percent compared last year due to a more stiff competition in the global market, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 11 Planning officer Romy Castaņaga said in an interview Monday.
"Yung banana exports natin, medyo nag-decline ng kaunti (Our banana exports have declined a little) maybe because of competition from Vietnam," he said.
Castaņaga, though far from expressing alarm over the new trend in the global banana industry, said the region must concentrate on making the products cheaper than the rest of those shipped out by its neighboring Asian countries.
"If we want to retain and, if not expand our markets, we really have to make the price competitive and cheaper, say compared to Vietnam," he said.
He added the volume of coconut production in Davao Oriental, the region's major producer, has likewise experienced a mild reduction.
Next to bananas, coconut based products are the region's second highest export commodity earner.
Records furnished DTI 11 showed the total value of exports up to September this year totaling $537 million, slightly lower than last year's $565.02 million.
Davao City contributed the bulk of the exports amounting to $461.21 million, while Davao del Sur's aggregate export worth was pegged at $18.85 million.
Davao del Norte was able to ship out $53.10 million worth of exported products, which are largely fresh and processed banana products, and Davao Oriental completed the list with $3.83 million worth of coconut-based products exported.
For the third quarter of the year alone, from July to September, the DTI 11 recorded the region's export performance at $231.85 million.
The general outlook for exports in the region, however, is "just at the same level or slightly higher than last year" according to the DTI 11 official.
(November 4, 2003 issue)
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