Manila has appealed again to Tokyo to cut its tariff on Philippine bananas to zero percent as the former seeks to maintain its market share in the heavily contested Japanese market for the yellow fruit.
The request was conveyed by Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar to Japan’s Vice Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Shinya Fujiki during a bilateral meeting last October 16, in Brunei Darussalam.
“I would like to request your support for the preferential tariff rate of zero percent for Philippine bananas in Japan, which currently imposes 18-percent tariff during the winter season and 8 percent during the summer,” Dar said.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Japan is one of the countries where Philippine bananas are heavily taxed.
In fact, Japan used to be the largest importer of Philippine bananas until China took the spot in 2018.
From January to July, the Philippines exported 788,048.058 metric tons of cavendish bananas to Japan, which was 54.27 percent higher than the 510,801.497 MT shipped in the same period of last year, Philippine Statistics Authority data showed.
Banana industry stakeholders like the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) have been lobbying for the reduction of Japan’s tariff so that Philippine bananas could keep its ground against other exporters which enter Tokyo at lower duties.
PBGEA argued that reducing, or eliminating the tariff, would keep the Philippines competitive against Japan’s other banana suppliers that are exporting to the East Asian country at zero tariff.
In response, Fujiki was quoted as saying that he wished to discuss the proposed tariff reduction by the Philippines on the context of the on-going review of the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement.
During the bilateral meeting, Dar also sought updates for the Philippines’s request of market access for hass avocados and the accreditation of the country as a foot-and-mouth disease-free nation.
For his part, Fujiki raised the elimination of tariff imposed by the Philippines on Japanese rice and their request for market access of Japanese strawberries in the Philippines.
“Both countries agreed to fast-track the submission of necessary documents to expedite the process to enhance trade for both sides,” The DA said.