The Filipino Banana Growers and Entrepreneurs Association (FBGEA) has demanded lower government fees and more support activities to help the supposedly distressed industry. Executive director Stephen Antig recently recommended the possible reduction in lodgment fees with the Bureau of Customs and the suspension of wharfage fees “until the situation gets better.”
“The local governments should refrain from issuing ordinances that encroach on the right to contract freely,” he told manilatimes.net, also mentioning a recent Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report saying fresh banana “recorded the worst dip among the top 10 major commodity groups in terms of the value of exports at -46.9 percent as of January 2021.ˮ
Antig also quoted the PSA as saying “the industry is surviving though it has a lot of issues and concerns even as its data noted that the value of banana exports in January fell by 47 percent to $84.659 million from $159.454 million in 2020.”