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COSTA RICA |
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Costa Rica Tagged As Threat To Banana
Exports to Mideast
Philippine banana exporters to the Middle
East are threatened by an expected
intensifying competition banana producer
Costa Rica, an industry official said
yesterday. Higher export prices are also
seen if aerial spraying is banned, causing
an increase in production cost.
This, after the top official of a banana
industry group in Costa Rica announced last
week that it targets doubling banana exports
to the Middle East in one-and-a- half years.
"They have the land to do it. And even in
far places [sic], they were able to ship,"
Anthony B. Sasin, spokesman of the Pilipino
Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA),
said.
He noted that Costa Rica can produce bananas
in 200,000 hectares of land, more than
triple the 600,000 hectares in the
Philippines.
Last week Jorge Sauma, head of the
Corporacion Bananera Nacional (Corbana),
announced that Costa Rica targets doubling
exports to 200,000 metric tons per year to
the Middle East.
Costa Rica plans to educate traders about
the quality of South American bananas and
will try to consolidate shipment to save on
freight costs.
Of the banana exports of the Philippines,
the second leading banana exporter next to
Ecuador, a tenth or 279,500-286,000 metric
tons goes to the Middle East, Mr. Sasin
said.
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