DTI heads business mission to EU
To take advantage of the European Union’s (EU) zero tariff on Philippine exports, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), is taking 96 delegates from 35 companies to the European Union to promote Food Philippines in world’s largest food fair Anuga to be held in Cologne, Germany on October 10-14.
The DTI’s Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), together with CITEM and the Department of Agriculture, will likewise hold a Philippine Business Forum in Koelnmesse during the ANUGA 2015 to take advantage of the presence at the Forum of the major food importers and investors from all over the European Union.
Slated at the Kristallsaal Section 3, Koelnmesse Fairgrounds at 10 a.m. to 12 noon on October 11, the forum, according to DTI Undersecretary Ponciano C. Manalo Jr., will present the details on how the EU importers and investors can avail themselves of very competitivelypriced Philippine exports of premium quality.
“Our superior price competitiveness stems from the EU-GSP+ (European Union’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus), which reduces or eliminates tariffs on exports from developing countries,” Manalo said.
“… and the Philippines is one of only 13 developing countries and the lone beneficiary in Southeast Asia to gain zero tariffs from the EU-GSP+, which covers some 6,274 export products,” Manalo pointed out.
The twin moves – the business forum on EU-GSP+ and the Food Philippines Pavilion at the Anuga Fair – are expected to generate publicity about the quality and price competitiveness of Filipino products.
As the world’s largest and most important food and beverage fair, the biennial Anuga attracts thousands of exhibitors and visitors from all over EU and around the globe. Its previous edition in 2013 drew 6,777 exhibitors from 98 countries and 155,000 trade visitors from 187.
The EU alone is the world’s single largest trading body, accounting for 40 percent of global merchandise exports and imports and the second-largest importer of goods and services.
With an area of 4,000,000 square kilometers and 503 million inhabitants, the EU also has the world’s third-largest consumer population, with per-capita income and gross domestic product that are next only to the United States, and whose market sphere extends to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), or the sub-regions surrounding the Mediterranean.
A growing number of EU’s consumers are immigrants or migrant workers, and some 500,000 of them are Filipinos, thus providing an instant ethnic market for Philippine exports.
Consumption trends lean towards the natural and organic, health and hygiene, concern for animal welfare, food safety, responsible consumerism, indigenous raw material sources, price competitiveness, and value for money.
“CITEM is upbeat on hitting its target of $53 million in spot sales in all of just five days of the Anuga Fair, where a 264-sqm Food Philippines Pavilion will house a special setting on fresh and natural Products, a fully-equipped kitchen, a cooking demo area, and a commercial section for B2B transactions,” CITEM’s Executive Director, Rosvi C. Gaetos said.
“The 35 regular Philippine exhibitors in Anuga, with established contacts and sales history in the EU, will complement the exhibits with their institutional, retail and semi-processed foods such as dried tropical fruits, juices, purees and syrups, canned seafoods, snacks and confectioneries, noodles, sauces, spices and condiments,” Gaetos added. The Food Philippines Pavilion is located at Hall 1.1 Booth Nos.: D30-E39g/ D40-E49g.