WELCOME TO THE U.S, THE FILIPINO LAKATAN!
KNA News
September 19, 2013
WELCOME TO THE U.S, THE FILIPINO LAKATAN!
By Arturo P. Garcia
LOS ANGELES—Welcome to the United States, Filipino Banana- The Lakatan!
With this warm greetings and great pride, the Filipino American community welcomed to the US market the highland Cavendish bananas from Bukidnon, also known in Filipino- the Lakatan.
The banana Lakatan with its distinctive orange color will hit selected stores here this weekend.
The Bukidnon bananas, marketed under Dole’s Sweetio brand, will be available at Gelsons stores in Encino, Century City, Tarzana, Newport Beach, Pacific Palisades, Calabasas, Sherman Oaks, Silver Lake, West Hollywood and Hollywood and in the Walmart stores in Baldwin Park, Corona and City of Industry, according to the Dole Fresh Fruit Company, a subsidiary of Dole Food Co. Inc.
Banana Trade Politics
“For us to successfully penetrate the highly competitive US banana market, we need to show that there is a strong demand for highland Cavendish from the Philippines,” Ambassador Jose Cuisia, Jr. said in a statement.
According to a Philippine newspapers, “ the Philippines became the first Asian country to export bananas to the United States when 7 metric tons of the Bukidnon bananas arrived at the Port of Long Beach on Sept. 9. It was part of the estimated 3,000 metric tons that the US plans to import from the Philippines this year.”
Philippine bananas were rejected and were not allowed by the People’s Republic of China the height of its border problems with the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal last year. A lot banana exports to China was rotten due to China’s restrictions on the Philippine bananas.
In a sign of concessions and to even up the loss of banana trade with China, the United States allowed the Philippine bananas into the country.
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