Philippines eyes to expand food export market in Japan

February 20, 2018

The Department of Trade and Industry’s Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (DTI-CITEM) seeks to augment the Philippines’ trade relations with Japan as it showcases the country’s tropical flavors in the largest food fair in the Asia-Pacific region.

Under Food Philippines brand, DTI-CITEM will bring the country’s top exporters of tropical fruits, beverages and other processed food in the 43rd International Food and Beverage Exhibition, popularly known as FOODEX Japan, on March 6-9 at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba.

“Japanese people are no stranger to us. We know that they have a penchant for our tropical fruits and that is what we are looking to showcase as we return to FOODEX,” said Nora Terrado, DTI Undersecretary for Trade and Investments Promotion and CITEM Officer-in-Charge (OIC).

“We will also feature other tropical food and ingredients to widen the line of Philippine products shipped to Japan and promote the country as a premier sourcing destination,” added Terrado.

FOODEX is known as a major gateway to the Japanese market. Last year, the four-day event welcomed over 3,000 local and international exhibitors, as well as more than 82,000 buyers from the food manufacturing, service, distribution, and trading sectors across the global food industry.

FOODEX is also participated in by buyers from major regions, such as Europe, America, Africa and Australia.

In 2017, 17 local firms under the Food Philippines pavilion bagged $7.4 million worth of export sales. For this upcoming participation, CITEM seeks to generate at least $ 10 million export sales from buyers around the world.

Japan is the Philippines’ largest export destination for fresh foods and the second largest market for processed food, next to the United States.

According to preliminary reports from Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Japan is among the top export destinations of the country with 16.20 percent total share of total merchandise exports for the period January to Decembr 2017.

With the existing Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), Japan provides an attractive and vast market for Philippine food suppliers to serve the retail, food service, and manufacturing industries.

The Philippines’ participation in FOODEX Japan 2018 is being organized by CITEM, in partnership with the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Tokyo and Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC), as part of the DTI’s major efforts to intensify the promotion of Philippine specialty food products in overseas trade shows. DMS