Saturday, February 03, 2007 Davao mango producers eye foreign market
THE current slow movement of fresh mango in Mindanao to the market plus the low farm gate price forced the Davao region's industry player to look for other mechanism to respond to the pressing issue.
Davao Region Mango Contractors Association (Daremca) president Ednar Dayanghirang said exporting fresh mango from Davao direct to the foreign market could be one solution.
He said they are taking the opportunity of the Philippine government's initiative to market agriculture product at the Fruit & Vegetable Whole Market in Guangshou, Jiangnan, China.
The Philippines was offered a 5,000-sq. meter area where fruit and vegetable producers could display and market their produce.
He said this is the opportunity and by end February they will be joining a trade mission to find out and look for traders as partners.
The Jiangnan Market has become the largest distributing center in China and even in Southeast Asia and the key enterprise of Guangzhou Municipality and Guangdong Province.
It was recognized as the model wholesale market by the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Vegetable Circulating Association.
Based on the profile of Jiangnan Market, it said that the daily trading volume of different varieties of fruits and vegetables reached 10 million kilos.
Total trading in 2005 accounted to more than 10 million kilos and valued at 10 billion Yuan. The projection in 2006 was pegged at 15 billion Yuan.
"Once this is firmed up, the mango produce during the first six months period will now have a market," he said.
He said during the period from January to June, "Manila buyers don't come here to buy the fruit because it is peak season in the Luzon area."
"Instead of coming to Davao they source the fruit in Luzon, which is cheaper in cost. The Davao mango through air cargo is charged P20 per kilo," he said.
It may be noted that the advocacy of concentrating mango production during second half of the year was successful he said but it turned out that it was also disadvantageous.
He said with the arrangement, the producers will be left without the buyer for six months and farm price of P12 could not even compensate for the cost of production.
He said with an estimated production combined of 50 million kilos a year they are optimistic of a steady supply.
"If this will materialize we might not have enough fruits to supply other markets locally like Manila," he said.
Dayanghirang also said that with the formal acceptance of Daremca to the BIMP-Eaga Business Council (BEBC) they will have better chances of marketing the fruit to the other markets.
He said it could open up new markets once fresh mango will be included in the priority commodities that the East Asean Growth Area will market in the sub regions.
"There is really a need to push the product in other markets because based on latest assessment, the export production of mango is going down," he said.
He said new markets could strike a balance of the income as against cost of production that is continuously increasing.
