MANILA, Philippines - Mainland China has accepted the first shipment fresh frozen milkfish or bangus hatched, raised and processed in a Philippine aquaculture farm, thus breaking the lucrative Chinese consumer market whose appetite for fresh and frozen fish from the Philippines is expected to balloon with the implementation of a bilateral trade agreement between Manila and Beijing.
Officials of the Department of Trade and Industry said the shipment by one of the leading Mindanao-based aquaculture companies of nine tons of frozen and packaged Philippine milkfish is the headstart of an aggressive campaign by the government and the private sector to boost Philippines-China trade under a deal between President Aquino and Chinese President Hu Jintao signed in August last year to boost bilateral trade between the two countries to $60 billion within five years.
Alsons Aquaculture Corp., a part of the agribusiness unit of the Alcantara Group, became the first Filipino company to test the potential for Philippine milkfish in the mainland Chinese market with its initial shipment of fresh-frozen, value-added milkfish raised in its 320-hectare cultured fish farm in Alabel, Sarangani shipped to Xiamen, China and marketed under the Sarangani Bay trademark by Alson’s Xiamen-based distribution partner in retail stores as the primary distribution channel.
Food is among China’s top imports as its one billion-strong consumer market started enjoying the windfall of higher incomes triggered by double-digit economic growth that made China the largest economy in the world. President Aquino’s economic managers is hoping China’s huge market would open up more business for the Philippine agriculture and garments sectors, as trade between the two countries rose 22 percent in 2011 from 2010 figures to $32.25 billion and a free trade deal between China and Southeast Asian nations boosted trade in the region.
Alson’s pioneering move further entrenches the company as the largest exporter of processed packaged milkfish in the country. The milkfish were hatched and raised in the group’s own 320-hectared aquaculture farm in Alabel, Sarangani, then processed on site at Alsons Aquaculture’s state-of-the-art processing plant.