Local exporters urged to look for new markets

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino exporters can still consider entering a number of overseas markets offering huge business opportunities, particularly India and China, despite the global economic crisis.

Rashmi Tolentino-Singh, chairperson of the Hospitality & Wellness Industries Furnishers & Service Providers Association, Inc., said there are always buyers for well-designed and high-quality products.

“If we have good products to offer, there is someone to buy. Quality is the battlecry of the association. We need to have a culture of excellence; this will sustain us,” she said in a seminar. 

Singh bared the result of a research conducted by the group indicating that there are consumer shows abroad they can penetrate as well as other markets which have been considered competitors but are now actually their customers, like China and India.

However, she advised diligence in entering the world’s most populous countries. Thus, lot of research is needed where Filipino businesses should really go and what particular products they would offer.

“For me, China is one of those markets that we really have to do a lot of research. India is a very good market but not so much for the consumers but for the hospitality sector because they are building thousands of hotels and they cannot cope with the demand of the market,” Singh said.

She expressed optimism that a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and Asean countries can improve Philippine trade with that country. ASEAN groups the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Moreover, Singh said Middle East is still a market for local exporters but encouraged them to focus on Qatar because it is the only the country in the world that has not been affected by the recession.

“They (Qatar) are already preparing for the 2022 soccer World Cup so there are all kinds of construction going on there,” she said. Qatar has also launched a bid for the 2020 Olympic Games.  

Singh also identified central and northern Europe particularly Germany as well as Paris, England and Korea as other potential markets.

“Paris has a market that is global. England is another place that is very compatible with what we have because they are very design-oriented,” she reasoned.

Singh said that during the recently held Korea Furniture show, they found that Korea has a market for special products, design products and special materials.

“It is a market worth looking at. They have a lot of young people who are into contemporary stuffs. There is really so much room for us to work with them,” she noted.

Likewise, Clemente Manrique Jr., general manager of CSM Enterprise International, shared that the outcome of the Tendence show in Frankfurt where his company participated was a good indicator that the outlook for the industry for the years to come is still positive.

“Those who came and visited (our booth) were quality buyers. We are now already feeling the responses and have orders from that participation,” he said.

“But we should really have good products to attract buyers thus, we need to do our homework to have the right products,” he said.

For his part, Ravi Singh, president of Lightworks Resources Inc., said the Spoga + Gafa Cologne in Germany was really a very good trade show.    

“Regardless of ups and down particularly of the specific markets you are trying to cater to, if you have something good to sell, it will sell,” he said in the same seminar. – Philexport News and Features