MCCI to participate in Chinese trade expo

The Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) plans to send a delegation to the upcoming China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, China this November.

During the chamber's general membership meeting on Thursday night, MCCI president Stanley Go urged companies to join the expo which is happening on November 5-10.

Go said the chamber will send a delegation to be part of the over 100 Philippine products the Department of Trade and Industry plans to showcase during this trade event.

The business leader pointed out that China is a promising market that local businessmen here would want to consider entering into.

He said joining the expo is an opportunity and a key for Cebu companies to penetrate the Chinese market.

"China is really a big market for us," the MCCI official said.

China, with 1.42 billion people as of 2018 and being the world's second biggest economy, second largest importer and consumer globally, offers so much trade opportunities for the Philippines as its key trade partner.

And as relations between the Philippines and China have improved Under President Duterte, China is now much willing to buy more from the Philippines.

In a previous forum with Cebuano businessmen, Jin Yuan, commercial counselor at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China, had said China really has a huge market.

"We want more Philippine products to enter the Chinese market," Yuan said.

Cebuano exporters and business leaders had expressed interest to join the first CIIE, which is China's firm support to trade liberalization and open its market to the world.

China, including Hong Kong, is the Philippines' top trading partner, top export market and top import source.

In 2017, Philippines' trade with China grew 13.79 percent, with 7.83 percent and 20.05 percent growth in exports and imports, respectively.

The Philippines total merchandise trade with China continues to rise and it has become its top bilateral trading partner surpassing Japan in 2016.

Glenn Penaranda, commercial counselor at the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Beijing, had said China's consumer market demands for industrial goods, and consumer goods and services amid its growing middle class market.

Food products and design-driven products, he noted, have so much opportunities to enter the Chinese market.

These include fruits, processed food, coconut oil, virgin coconut oil, high-value seafood, and coconut water, among others.

Cebu can also take advantage of exporting design-driven products such as furniture, home furnishing and decors, and fashion accessories, among others, he said.

China aims to import US$10 trillion worth of products and services in the next five years, which poses an enormous potential for suppliers from the Philippines to penetrate the huge China market.

China's market, according to Forbes, is emerging as consumers are now rapidly engaging digital ways in marketing with 420 million internet users in China.

Chinese consumers are second to those in the United States on spending on luxury goods.