Dole Philippines will ship Cavendish bananas to the US for the first time, after and agreement between the USDA and the Philippines Bureau of Plant Industry was finalised this week.
Dole is likely to fill the initial 3,000 tonne quota within the first quarter of 2013.
The company was set to export bananas to the US in December 2012, pending the approval of a final permit, but was forced to cancel the shipment after Typhoon Bopha destroyed 150,000 tonnes of the crop across the country.
The USDA has also certified mango plantations in the Davao Oriental province and on Samal Island as being pest-free.
The USDA and the Bureau of Plant Industry have not issued a quota for mango exports to the US yet.
