CEBU CITY - Marginal communities producing dried mangoes with calamansi are selling well in countries like Japan and Italy and could become a major income generation for many farmers here, an industry official said. Southern Partners and Fair Trade Corp. (SPFTC) Managing Director Geraldine Labradores said the group is shipping to Japan some 10,000 to 15,000 of 100-gram packs of dried mangoes with calamansi every month. Italy, an emerging market for this organic product, is also fast catching up as nearly 10,000 of the 70-gram packs are being shipped there on a periodic basis, she said. "Our dried mangoes are very popular in Japan and Italy because they are sweet and easy to chew. But the advantage of our products, apart from being organic, is that it has vitamin C from the calamansi," Labradores said. Cebu-based SPFTC is engaged in the export and domestic selling of organic food, like dried mangoes and processed food, like mango jam, mango puree and pineapple syrup, among others. Organic sugar and banana chips from Cebu are also gaining popularity in these countries.
Virgin coconut oil and organic oil from small producers in Mindanao are also interesting export products, noted Labradores. But despite the strong potential demand for locally produced goods, she admitted that "it is not easy to export products abroad" especially in Europe due to strict trade laws.
Labradores lauded the efforts of foreign fair trade partners who have helped repackage local products to comply with international standards. Fair trade groups in Japan, she added, have been subsidizing the cost of buying mangoes in Cebu just to keep up with the strong demand for mango produce in their country, she said.
