Philippines to join food, beverage expo in Malaysia

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is set to participate in a food and beverage (F&B) expo in Malaysia as part of efforts to boost its exports of coffee, cacao and coconut products.

In a statement yesterday, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said 16 Philippine manufacturers of coconut, coffee, and cacao products would participate in the eight Selangor International Expo – F&B from Oct. 6 to 9 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Selangor International Expo 2022 is an influential food and beverage trade exhibition that focuses on the global food and beverage industry.

The four-day event is hosted and completely supported by the Selangor state government and powered by Invest Selangor Berhad.

The Philippine delegation will be led by DTI’s Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) – Kuala Lumpur.

This is part of DTI’s contributory initiative under the research, marketing, and market promotion component of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan (CFIDP),the DTI said.

Under the plan, the EMB is mandated to oversee the promotion of Philippine coconut exports, and formulate and execute export strategies, among others, in coordination with the Foreign Trade Service Corps (FTSC).

In 2021, Malaysia ranked as the Philippines’ 10th largest trading partner and 11th biggest export market.

Philippine exports to Malaysia grew by 6.89 percent from $1.77 billion in 2020 to $1.89 billion in 2021.

Based on the Export Potential Assessment undertaken by the International Trade Centre, the Philippines has the potential to increase its exports of coconuts by $ 620.2 million, coffee by $ 1.4 million, and cacao by $ 12.5 million.

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual earlier said the DTI would transform agriculture and agribusiness in the country by adopting new technologies and innovations.

“We also plan to develop industry clusters. This will involve MSMEs (micro,small and medium enterprises),” Pascual said.

He cited coffee as one of these industry clusters as he emphasized the need to develop coffee grower clusters and processors.

“Cacao, also, is another important agricultural cluster that we can develop and for which there are already very successful downstream processors, like Auro and Malagos, the makers of chocolates,” he said.