Manila, Oct. 21 -- Agriculture Secretary William Dar has reiterated his request to Japan Vice Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) Shinya Fujiki to lower the tariffs imposed on Philippine bananas.
"I would like to request your support for the preferential tariff rate of zero percent for Philippine bananas in Japan, which currently imposes an 18-percent tariff during the winter season and 8 percent during the summer," Dar said in a statement.
Japan used to be the largest importer of Philippine bananas for nearly three decades (1991-2017) until China took the spot, buying more than 1.1 million tons in 2018. This redounds to a 56-percent increase from 2017 banana imports.
Currently, Japan is one of the countries where impo...