PCCI: ’GOOD MIX OF SECTORS’ IN CHINA TALKS

PHILIPPINE Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) President George T. Barcelon said a “good mix of sectors” including the metal and agriculture sectors are set to participate in talks with Chinese rms to expand their market potential.

“In Agriculture, we have companies here that are in the export of fruits and they want to see or expand their market potential here in China. We have a pretty good mix of sectors who are here,” Barcelon said in a televised interview on Wednesday.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. is in Beijing from January 3 to 5 for a state visit which is expected, among others, to build on the growing trade and investment ties between Philippines and China.

As to the proposed deals or investments secured, Barcelon said he heard mostly of the ongoing ones, noting that “ere might be discussions on the re ning of the nickel. e government has been towards that direction of not just exporting ores but re ning it. I’ve heard from people in this sector that they are lining up some discussions.”

The PCCI head also unveiled that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has scheduled three roundtable discussions which will tackle agriculture, power, energy, and mining.

Other companies present at the state visit, Barcelon noted, are in the mining, energy, and waste management sectors. On the energy side, he said there’s a company that’s dealing with renewable energy, solar panel, solar energy, and wind energy.

In a story published by BUSINESS MIRROR on Tuesday, Dario Divino, the designated focal person on industrial crops at the City Agriculturist O ce in Davao City, said it has accredited three importers of durian from China, and “there is now a huge market for durian.”

“It is really a big challenge because the market for durian is not only local. We also have China now.

There are three approved importers from China,” he said.

In a recent statement, Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual listed the sectors with the most “considerable” export potential to China which include: electronic equipment, electrical machinery; metals; optical products, watches, and medical instruments; fruits; motor vehicle parts; processed or preserved food products; sh and shell sh, among others.

Pascual said the President’s visit to China will pave the way for strengthening the Philippines’s trade and investment relations, including building on the country’s “export gains.”

At a recent press conference in Malacañang, Foreign A airs Assistant Secretary Neal Imperial said there’s great interest from Chinese investors in the Philippine economy, especially in Philippine agriculture, renewable energy, and nickel processing.

“China imports 70 percent of its nickel ore and concentrates requirements from the Philippines. So, there’s a lot of potential in those sectors,” Imperial said.

In 2021, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said China is the Philippines’s top trade partner, with total trade valued at $38.35 billion. Meanwhile, China is also the Philippines’s second largest export market ($11.55 billion) and a leading import source ($26.8 billion).