DTI Central Visayas Office
Release Date: November 19, 2015
Reference: DTI-Region 7
255-0036 / 255-0037 / 412-1989 / 412-1868
dti_7@yahoo.com / dticentralvisayas@gmail.com
The Department of Trade and Industry's Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) stressed the importance of maintaining the quality and safety of food products exported by Philippine companies during an information session this year held under DTI-EMB's Philippine Export Competitiveness Program (PECP).
Maria Teresa C. Cerbolles of the Center for Food Regulation and Research under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) explained, during an info session, the vital changes the FDA is making in supervising the safe manufacture and sale of locally made food products.
Cerbolles said that before a local company can market and export food products, it needs to apply for licenses and register its products with the FDA.
"It is necessary to do so to ensure public safety and the good reputation of the company and the Philippines in the field of international trade," she said.
For his part, DTI-EMB Director Senen M. Perlada said that globalization and free trade regimes have opened up both vast opportunities as well as challenges for Philippine food exports.
"It's no longer about protective tariffs, it's more about meeting quality standards and compliance with market requirements," Perlada emphasized in an interview.
"That is why the EMB is strongly advocating for the establishment of the National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) which is among the major strategies in the Philippine Export Development Plan," he added.
He also said that food exports remain a bright spot in Philippine trade with the rest of the world.
"While the prolonged and continuing drought has weighed down on supply of materials and the sector's exports for the first six months of 2015, which may well spell a flat growth or even a decline for the entire year, it is nevertheless expected that the sector will continue on a growth trajectory over the long haul," Perlada pointed out.
Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the Philippines' total food exports in 2014 reached $4.178 billion, up 5.91 percent from the $3.945 billion exported in 2013. Of these, processed food accounted for $1.756 billion, or 42.04 percent of total food exports, up 11.49 percent from the $1.575 billion reported in 2013. Total beverage exports were recorded at $40.824 billion last year, 312.87 percent more than the $9.9 million exported in 2013. Fresh food exports amounted to $1.382 billion in 2014, 15.32 percent more than the 2013 exports of $1.209 billion in 2013. Only marine and aquaculture products showed a downtrend, from 2013's $1.15 billion to last year's $988.683 million or a change of 14.03 percent.
Cerbolles said the FDA was instituting changes in its supervision of food products marketed for both the domestic and international markets. The changes included raising its licensing and registration fees, and extending the validity of food licenses and registration from one year to three years.
Cerbolles added that aside from the need to comply with domestic regulations on food manufacturing, current exporters and would-be exporters of food products must also be aware of, and comply with, the specific country regulations governing the companies importing their products.
Meanwhile, Joanchris Preau, general manager of Bureau Veritas, a French company considered to be a world leader in testing, inspection, and certification services, including international trade, discussed Bureau Veritas' experience in supervising international products that enter and leave the French market.
Preau specifically cited during an EMB organized info session the market regulations governing subjected products traded with select countries in the Middle East (Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia) and Africa (Ghana).
The Philippine Export Competitiveness Program (PECP) was created to help local exporters develop their productivity, improve the quality of their products, and teach them to be innovative and competitive in their field of business.
Aside from exporters and would-be exporters, the PECP of the EMB aims to reach freight forwarders, customs brokers and other export stakeholders as well as business groups and members of the academe through regular info sessions.
A major focus of the information sessions are small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that form the majority of domestic businesses operating in the country.
The PECP holds information sessions in both the DTI International Bldg. along Gil Puyat Ave. in Makati City and in the National Capital Region (NCR) and the provinces at the request of specific companies, government agencies including DTI regional and provincial offices, local government units, and business groups and federations.
For information on DTI services, log-on to http://www.dti.gov.ph/
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