Hanoi (VNA) – Small- andmedium-sized banana growers in the Philippines, the world’s second largestexporter of the fruit, are being heavily affected by the acute respiratorydisease caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), following market closuresin China.

Mainland China is among the country’sbiggest banana importers. Together with Japan, China purchased more than halfof the shipments sent by the Southeast Asian nation in 2019.

The Philippines earned 1.93 billion USDfrom banana exports last year, up about 40 percent from 2018 and accounting for3 percent of the country’s overall exports.

Representatives of the Philippine BananaGrowers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) met officials from the PhilippineDepartment of Agriculture on February 17 to tackle new challenges, includingthe COVID-19 outbreak.

PBGEA Executive Director Stephen Antig saidthe hardest hit by the epidemic are small- and medium-sized growers who dealwith spot buyers, as big exporters in the Philippines have existing contractswith importers.

The initial impacts of the problem arelikely to be highlighted when January trade data is released next month, he added.

According to Antig, talks with logisticsproviders and efforts to identify other potential markets are among the keysteps the Agricultural Department is planning to help resolve the problem./.