DTI to strengthen local coffee sector

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is pursuing efforts to fortify the coffee industry to take advantage of the growing demand for the beverage.

“The prospects of the coffee industry comes to the forth with the ever increasing demand for coffee,” Myrna Pablo, DTI regional director for the Cordillera Administrative Region and national industry cluster manager for the coffee industry said during the Philippine Coffee Conference.

Over the past year and this year, the government has been implementing programs and projects designed to develop the local coffee industry.

Pablo said the coffee sector has been included in the National Industry Cluster Capacity Enhancement Project (NICCEP) is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency in coordination with the DTI.

The NICCEP aims to develop and mobilize pilot industry clusters nationwide and help increase the contribution of selected priority industry clusters to the economy.

Apart from the NICCEP, Pablo the government has also started to address the technology gaps along the coffee value chain with the DIT’s shared service faculties (SDF) program.

Under the SSF program,  common service facilities are provided to micro, small and medium enterprises to help them in their production and allow them to be more competitive in both the local and global markets.

For this year, 30 SSF projects for the coffee industry worth P26.68 million were approved nationwide.

“The government can only do so much. The private sector’s role is more pronounced. There is still a need for efforts to be harmonized,” she said.

The local coffee industry currently accounts for less than one percent of the total global production.

“We cannot produce enough (coffee) to supply the volume we consume. It is estimated that for 2013, our country will have to import 40,000 MT (metric tons) of coffee to sustain local consumption and exports of a number of firms in the country,” Pablo noted.