DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry is hopeful to reach its target of $62 million (P3.1 billion) export sales in the world’s biggest food fair in its bid to step up the export drive in other countries.
The agency’s promotion arm will be leading the country’s delegation of food exporters food exporters slated on October 7 to October 11 at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany.
DTI said the country’s participation to the world’s biggest food fair is set to further expand the trade relationship between the Philippines and the European Union (EU).
The Center for International Trade and Expositions and Missions (CITEM) will feature the country’s export-competitive products from 19 food companies under the Food Philippines industry brand.
“The Philippines’ participation in Anuga is part of DTI’s overarching efforts to step up the export drive in EU member states and take advantage of the Philippines’ zero tariff privileges under the EU’s current Generalized System of Preferences Plus or GSP+ scheme,” CITEM Executive Director Clayton Tugonon said in a statement on Thursday.
In 2015, some 35 Philippine companies netted $67.7 million export sales in Anuga. For 2017, DTI-CITEM is targeting $62 million.
Anuga is known to be the world’s largest food and beverage fair. The event presents a combination of 10 specialized trade shows under one roof, showcasing the diverse product selection in the global food industry.
Around 160,000 visitors are expected to join the five-day event to check out the latest and most innovative products from around 7,200 global exhibitors.
“Despite coming with a smaller delegation, we are not pulling any stops with our high export target. We have carefully selected 19 food companies that are primed for the European market, each capable of showcasing the best of what the Philippines have to offer,” Tugonon said.
The EU is ranked as the Philippines’ fourth largest trading partner, third largest import source, and fourth largest export market, according to Tugunon.
In 2016, the Philippines’ external trade in goods with the EU states totaled to $13.713 billion or 9.7 percent share of the country’s total trade, based on data of Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Meanwhile, exports to the EU reached $6.970 billion or 12.1 percent of the total export receipts, while imports were valued at $6.743 billion or 8 percent share to total import, resulting to a balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) surplus of $227.74 million.
Within the EU, ninety percent of EU-Philippine trade is concentrated among eight EU member-states—Germany, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and Denmark.
DTI said that among the EU-member countries, Germany is the Philippines’ top trading partner with a total trade of $4.357 billion or 31.8 percent of EU’s total trade.
Revenue from export to Germany amounted to $2.329 billion while payments for imports were worth $2.028 billion or a trade surplus of $301.32 million, the agency added.(davaotoday.com)
