FILIPINO seafood exporters closed some $6.5
million worth of fish export deals in the United States
following the visit of a trade mission headed by Agriculture
Secretary Arthur Yap to the International Boston Seafood Show
last week.
Yap, who is in the US for a week-long trade
mission to attract more agriculture and fisheries investments,
said the Boston fair attracts close to 18,000 buyers across the
globe. He said the fish export deals will involve tuna, octopus,
bangus and value-added seafood products like fish ham and
sausages, adobo and teriyaki bangus.
Yap said local exporters who took part in the
seafood show like Bluefin Seafood Export, JNMercado Seafood
Supply, Anio Farms, Fisher Farm Inc., Jarla Trading, MS Seafood
and FAB. Sea Resources Corp. were not only able to close deals
with buyers but were also able to "learn new products and
technology, develop or strengthen connections with their
American counterparts, and find out about current issues
affecting the business."
Yap, who will visit Washington, San Francisco
and Los Angeles after Boston, will also attend a global
conference on renewable energy and spearhead a Philippine
agricultural investment and trade mission to generate North
American ventures in the country's biofuels industry and in the
high-value commercial crops subsector.
Yap said his participation in the Washington International
Renewable Energy Conference would give the Philippines a
valuable opportunity to generate international interest in the
country's biofuels feedstock development program. He said he
will also meet with North American business leaders and witness
the finalization of biofuels project agreements which would
further secure and promote investment and export deals for the
country's agricultural sector. - Job T. Realubit
