Brasília, May 18, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Japan and Singapore will become two new markets for Brazilian fruit in the second semester of this year. This is the outcome of a mission in April comprising representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, producers, and exporters. During their visit the Brazilian officials and entrepreneurs became acquainted with both countries' systems of plant protection and presented the bases of the Brazilian Integrated Fruit Production Program.

Singapore is an important commercial transshipment center that exports to its Asian neighbors around 40% of the fruit it imports. Trade with Singapore opens up prospects for Brazil to export apples, grapes, citrus fruit, and melons.

As for Japan, it accepted the conditions of plant hygiene in Brazil as adequate for the importation of mangoes, and the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture will still present for public consultation its report on the purchase of mangoes produced in Brazil. After the consultation, the document should be signed by the director of the Bureau of Food Safety and Consumer Protection, the organ that corresponds to Brazil's Secretariat of Agricultural Surveillance. This process should be completed in two or three months, when Brazil will begin to export mangoes to the Japanese market. Exporters expect to sell 100 tons of fruit per week, or 5.2 thousand tons annually.

In 2003 Brazil exported 128.431 tons of mangoes, which earned US$ 70.9 million, mainly to the United States and the European Union. 542 thousand tons of commercial quality mangoes were produced, of the Tommy Atkins (85%), Haden (8%), and Keitt Kent (5%) varieties.

Translator: David Silberstein