MANILA: Philippine banana growers and exporters are expecting a higher volume of exports to Iran this year.
This, according to Stephen A. Antig, executive director of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association after the sanction imposed by the United States to the Islamic Republic was lifted in May, last year.
He said Iran had encountered problem in terms of remittance of payments for bananas in the past years after its bank accounts were frozen due to the US sanction.
Based on the Philippine Statistic Authority- Davao 2015 first quarter (Q1) export data, Iran which placed third among the Philippine export top destinations of fresh or dried bananas, including plantains has a total of Export Free on Board (FOB) value of $8.1 million.
Japan has remained as top exporting country during the period with $37.4 million followed by China with $33.7 million.
A total of $94.2 million export FOB value was recorded by the region during the same period with gross weight of 349,483,515 kilograms (kgs).
Iran export demand for this year, according to Antig, is at 48 million boxes, each box weighs around 13 kg.
During the run of the US sanction to Iran, a Philippine Quarantine Service (PQS) Banana report (2012-2013) data showed a total of 6,086,499 boxes were exported to Iran as of June 2013 compared to the 9,524,208 boxes exported during the same period in the preceding year.
The problem worsened due to the advisory that limited companies to ship bananas to Iran when the sanction was still enforced.
