Phl exports ‘atsuete’ to Vietnam

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino farmers have achieved another breakthrough as they start exporting atsuete (annatto or bixa orellana), a food colorant and additive, to Vietnam with an initial shipment of  20 metric tons (MT). 

Agriculture assistant secretary Dante Delima, who represented Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, led an inaugural send-off last  July 8, 2013 at the Manila North Harbor Center, where a 20-foot container van was loaded with 400 50-kilogram sacks of atsuete seeds with a gross value of about P1.3 million (or $30,000).

The atsuete export was consolidated by Lingkod Saka Inc., an NGO, and exported through the Vegetable Importers, Exporters and Vendors Association of the Philippines (VIEVA), with assistance from the DA’s High Value Commercial Crops Program (HVCDP). 

Delima said the atsuete was bought from farmers at P45 to P50 per kilo. Of the total volume, 10MT each was sourced from farmers in Barangay Datu Ladayon in Arakan, North Cotabato and in Sitio Kibalang in Barangay Marilog, Davao City. 

Actually, the country still imports raw and powdered atsuete, at 10,000 MT annually, according to VIEVA president Leah Cruz who  said they took the opportunity to export because the Vietnamese buyers offered a good price, and preferred Philippine atsuete which is of better quality than those from Africa where Vietnam regularly imports from. 

Cruz said VIEVA and Sikat Saka are currently consolidating another order of 40 MT that would be exported again to Vietnam. She said importers from Hawaii and the US mainland are also interested to buy Philippine atsuete. 

The inaugural send-off was  attended by DA-HVCDP director Jennifer Remoquillo, DA-Bureau of Plant Industry director Clarito Barron, farmer-leaders from North Cotabato and Davao, and officials from Sikat Saka and VIEVA.