Philippines surpasses target sales at ASEAN-Japan Business Expo

Sept. 11, 2011 - PRLog -- Over US$6 million or more than 500% from last year's negotiated sales of US$1.1 million was secured by the recent Philippine participation in the ASEAN-Food & Beverage Trade Mission with Business Meetings in Japan, reported the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Led by CITEM, the successful participation of the Philippine delegation comprised of three food and beverage companies, namely: Philfresh Corporation (frozen and value-added tuna), Fitrite, Inc. (coconut products and fruit juices), and Green Tropics Coffee Enterprise (civet coffee), marked the country as a quality and reliable source of healthy food products.

"Japan is one of the Philippines' top markets for food, and the second largest market for functional food, or food products that provide health benefits, at approximately US$16.4 billion. We are very pleased that this participation proves the readiness and capability of our local food companies to carve a relevant niche in the booming functional food market," said Rosvi C. Gaetos, Executive Director of CITEM. "We can expect that the demand for this market will continue to rise even as consumers worldwide gain awareness on the importance of living healthy lifestyles through products that provide health and well-being benefits."

"Through this participation, our companies expanded their knowledge of Japan's market characteristics and gained first-hand experience on conducting business with Japanese buyers, which will hopefully pave the way for fruitful future collaboration. We were able to benchmark products from ASEAN member countries in terms of taste, innovation, packaging, and price, and we are confident that our products are globally competitive in price and quality," she added.

Held at the ASEAN-Japan Centre in Tokyo, the trade mission provided the venue for facilitating multilateral trade in healthy food products between Japan and the 10 participating ASEAN countries under the theme "Food for Life: Empowering Body & Soul." Companies showcased products such as rice noodles, rice meals, ready-to-eat meals, coffee, organic products, and marine products such as tuna, shrimp, and native fish.

“It was a very good experience. We met all the potential buyers we wanted to meet. It gave us the opportunity to not only show our actual products to potential customers, but also have them sample our products and give us immediate feedback. This was more effective than making sales calls and handing out brochures,” said Jillian Yu, President of Philfresh Corporation, who added that their participation makes them look forward to "potential sales beyond the Japanese market."

Since 1981, the ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) has promoted exports from ASEAN to Japan while revitalizing investment and tourism from Japan to ASEAN through the organization of exhibitions of ASEAN products, seminars and workshops.

For more details, visit www.citem.com.ph/afbe or email publicity@citem.com.ph.

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The Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) is an export promotions arm of the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry.