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Philippines: Exports to double in 5 years – DTI
MANILA, Philippines — The country’s exports could double in the next five years through increased production capacities and addressing trade friction, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said an assessment conducted by the International Trade Center (ITC) “validates and quantifies the potential of the export industry to grow by nearly twice its export levels in the next five years if we invest in increasing our production capacities and unlock or address these trade frictions.”
The country’s merchandise exports rose 14.5 percent year-on-year to $74.6 billion in 2021.
Compared to the $70.9 billion worth of merchandise exports in 2019, last year’s export performance went up 5.2 percent.
For December alone, the country’s merchandise exports grew seven percent to $6.3 billion last year from $5.9 billion in 2020.
Lopez said more than half of Philippine commodity groups have recovered from the adverse economic impact of the pandemic and have breached pre-pandemic export levels.
“Our focus for the first half of 2022 is to unlock the unrealized export potential of the country and empower our exporters in seizing opportunities in the recovery of global markets. Unlocking trade barriers or frictions alone could add another $20 billion to our export earnings,” Lopez said.
ITC estimates the Philippines’ untapped export potential amounts to $49 billion, with $20 billion due to product-market-specific frictions and $29 billion based on the projected growth of the country and its export markets.
The trade frictions are connected to lack of market knowledge, challenges in complying with market requirements, and difficulties in matching buyers and suppliers, among others.
As coconut was identified as one of the products with the highest export potential among the agricultural products, the DTI is promoting high-value coconuts for the health and wellness market and other non-food uses.
“As part of our initiatives to assist coconut exporters to unlock the unrealized export potential, we will be providing technical and marketing support to selected MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) through training and coaching on export management and marketing, including support to their participation in international trade fairs and business matching sessions,” DTI Undersecretary Abdulgani Macatoman said.
For this year, the country will conduct export promotion activities in the Middle East North Africa region.
The activities will include pushing Philippine food products in leading supermarkets in the United Arab Emirates, as well as participation in the Gulfood trade fair and a business matching session in Dubai.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2022/01/31/2157452/exports-double-5-years-dti