Australia to conduct a technical visit to the Philippines in early 2026
The Philippine authorities have said the country’s banana industry is ready to meet any protocols required to export to Australia as it prepares for an upcoming biosecurity assessment.
According to a report from Business World, Gerald Glenn Panganiban director for the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), said the department was working with Australian authorities to progress market access.
“We are in constant communication with the Australian government, through their agriculture department. We have exchanged technical information again because we want to revive that,” said Panganiban.
“What we are pushing now is a holistic way on how to sanitise our farms, our Philippine good agricultural practices, and basically our protocols before export. Even in our residue levels, we are testing before we can supply.”
Australia’s Federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) is reviewing alternative measures for the importation of fresh Cavendish bananas from the Philippines.
The Philippines requested that Australia consider alternative measures to manage the main pathogens of concern identified in a 2008 import risk analysis. DAFF is still in the early stages of the assessment and the next stage is a technical visit to the Philippines.
This was due to occur in late 2025 but has been rescheduled to early 2026, due to the state of emergency in the Philippines. Following the visit, DAFF will release an issues paper that outlines the assessment process in more detail, provides background information on the Philippines’ requests, includes what will be assesed and details how and when we will engage with stakeholders. This is expected in the first half of 2026.
“This assessment is complex, and the full process could take several years to complete. If imports commence, the feasibility of trade ultimately depends on Australian consumers,” DAFF noted on its website.
The Australian banana industry has opposed any changes to biosecurity measures and banana imports from the Philippines. The Australian Banana Growers Association has established a voluntary Banana Imports Fighting Fund to help the industry “execute its science-backed argument, through lobbying, targeted research, communications”.
“Our position is that we do not need to import any bananas and the biosecurity risk of doing so is simply too great,” the industry body has said.
