Thursday, September 27, 2007 Export prices of banana seen to increase: PBGEA By Joy Romares-Sevilla
THE Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) reported a decrease in the production of banana due to changing weather condition, thus projecting an increase in export prices of Davao Region's top exporting product.
"Banana production decreased by 14 percent in the second quarter. Its prices in the export market are still the same, but hopefully it will go up due to lack of supply," Stephen Antig, PBGEA president, said Wednesday.
He said PBGEA produced a total of 130 million boxes of banana for export last year. Each box contains 13.5 kilos.
The average price of banana is pegged at $2 per kilogram.
But Antig expressed confidence that by developing new areas for banana plantations, production will become better.
He said one of the challenges the industry faces at present is the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Philippine peso.
"We expect an exchange rate of P44 by next year. Exchange rate is one of the challenges in the industry other than pests and diseases in banana plants," Antig said.
On the other hand, Antig claimed the ban on aerial spraying in banana plantations will surely affect the quality of bananas produced in the city.
He said by manual spraying, chemicals might not be evenly applied in plants causing sigatoka, a disease that attacks the leaves of banana.
This, he said, has an effect in the quality of fruits the plant produces.
