MANILA, Philippines — The US is in the final stages of negotiations for the entry of its blueberries into the Philippines.
“Right now, we are finalizing the pest risk assessment. The BPI (Bureau of Plant Industry) is almost ready and they shared the copy with us, we had comments. They will soon develop mitigation measures to make sure that what we will export are safe,” US Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service assistant trade director Lisa Kohl said in a recent meeting in Washington.
“It is getting towards the end of the process, once the pest risk assessment is done, things will be a lot faster already,” she said.
Last year, a delegation from the Philippines went to the US for a site visit to look into blueberry production and pest control measures. The visit allowed the team to do its own risk assessment.
Kohl said it was the US that initiated the discussion amid the popularity of the fruit in neighboring Asian countries with the hope they can also market blueberries to the Philippines.
“Once the plan is finalized, we will let the industry do it, the private sector exporters will work with their contacts in the Philippines,” Kohl said.
“The BPI has been very responsive. We had a few questions and they responded right away. There is no delay and so far it’s been very good,” she said.
While the US wants to enter the market before the year ends, Kohl said the exact timeline is still uncertain as of the moment.
“The timeline really varies with every trading partner and commodity. For tropical fruits that we don’t grow, it is usually a faster process but for the big industry that we have like citrus, the market access usually takes longer because we have a lot of stakeholders here to protect,” Kohl said.
The blueberry industry is a huge market in the US and blueberry bushes can pop up all over the country with 38 states growing the commodity commercially.
Blueberries are native to North America. They were first cultivated for sale in 1916.
The US is also the world’s largest producer of blueberries. However, 10 states account for more than 98 percent of US commercial production namely California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon and Washington.
In Canada, British Columbia is the primary producing region for high bush blueberries.
In South America, Chile is the largest producing country, followed by Argentina, Peru and Uruguay.
More than half of all blueberries are shipped to the fresh market, while the rest are frozen, pureed, concentrated, canned or dried to be used in a wide range of food products, including yogurt, pastries, muffins, cereals and health bars.