By Myrtle Faye L. Solina | Food and Agri-MArine Division | DTI-Export Marketing Bureau

20 October 2018

Published also in Business Mirror

TWENTY Philippine exporters are set to participate in the World Food and Beverage Great Expo (Fabex Kansai) in Kansai, Japan from October 23 to 25.

Fabex Kansai is Japan’s largest general trade fair for commercial food, cooking ingredients, equipment and containers.

The initiative is a collaboration between the Department of Agriculture through the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service and Office of the Agriculture Attaché at the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo headed by Dr. Samuel V. Animas, and Department of Trade and Industry  through the Philippine Trade and Investment Centers (PTICs)-Osaka and Tokyo, and the Export Marketing Bureau (EMB).

Products that will be showcased are fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, such banana, mango and asparagus, coffee, fruit jams, coco products, such as sugar, skimmed milk and milk, banana chips, dried fruits and frozen seafood products.

Commercial Counselor Buster Alevado Jr. of PTIC- Osaka said one of their advocacies is to increase Philippine vegetable exports to Japan. Thus, last September, a Food Safety Network  Seminar was conducted to tackle the market situation in Japan, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points and Japanese Food Safety Requirements. The information session aimed to prepare the Philippine exporters for the market regulatory requirements of Japan, increase competitiveness, and to ramp up export sales to Japan.

This in turn is also expected to help in the utilization of the existing free-trade agreement between the Philippines and Japan. Under the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, 80 percent of Philippine exports to Japan, consisting of 7,476 products,  such as food products, garments and textiles, furniture, metal manufactures, minerals, machinery and equipment parts, electronics, motor vehicle parts and chemicals, is duty-free.

The companies will proceed to Tokyo for business meeting, market sensing and meeting with associations to explore leads and expand market after the conclusion of the fair. The activity will be headed by PTIC-Tokyo through Commercial Counselor Dita Angara-Mathay.

Rose Marie Castillo, Division Chief of the Food and Agri-Marine Division of EMB, said the collaboration is aligned with the thrust of the Philippine Development Plan Chapter 15, which aims to ensure a sound macroeconomic policy through provision of support and promotion of products where the Philippines has comparative advantage and has the potential for competitive advantage and the priority sectors under the Philippine Export Development Plan  2018-2022.