THE Philippines just exported 1,500 kilograms of mangoes to Australia, the first time since 2013.

The initial shipment of 1,500 kilograms of fresh carabao mangoes from Davao to Sydney and Perth marked the first mango export from the Philippines to Australia in 10 years.

The Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) spearheaded the send-off for mangoes bound for Australia via Philippine Airlines (PAL)

Hi-Las Marketing Corp. produced the export quality mangoes.

The simple send-off ceremony was led by DA-BPI Assistant Director for Research, Development and Production Support Services Herminigilda Gabertan, BOC NAIA Customhouse Export Division Chief Calil Dimangadap, Hi-Las President/CEO Roberto Angelo Amores II, exporter Joseph Bautista, and PAL Cargo Sales International Account Executive Adriane Placido.

“Since 2013 pa po kasi ang last nating export ng mango to Australia, so this a big step towards our mango industry development considering na kailangang kailangan po natin talagang i-promote ang ganitong mga produkto sa labas ng ating bansa,” Gabertan said.

She also thanked the exporters from Hi-Las and other partners in the private sector and assured them that the government, particularly the DA-BPI and the BPI-National Plant Quarantine Services Division (NPQSD), will always be there to assist them.

“With this commencement of the export to Australia, we hope that we are able to ship more of our good quality products across the globe para bumalik ulit tayo sa merkado.

We’re very thankful for the opportunity talaga that we are able to penetrate some new foreign markets again. Hopefully, this will result in higher export volume,” Amores said.

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Cory Martinez