‘Tap unlimited Chinese food market’

CEBU, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-7) has reiterated its call to food manufacturers, specifically in Central Visayas, to exploit the huge China market.

DTI-7 Director Aster Caberte made this call following series of market researches which highlighted the fertile Chinese market for processed food, especially those that have health benefits, such as fruit-based products.

Caberte said local food makers, especially fruit-based snack food makers, should take advantage of the warm and tightening trade relations between the Philippines and China.

Caberte mentioned Cebu’s rich suppliers of export quality banana chips, dried mangoes, and others that have tremendous opportunity to earn good export access to the 1.4 billion market based in China.

Dried mango and other fruit-based snack food maker and exporter Justin Uy admitted that China market indeed is too big.

In fact, Uy, who owns the Profood International Corporation, described China market as “unlimited.” What limits his company from a full-blown entry to China is the supply of mangoes in the Philippines.

For this reason, Profood had to open another plant in Cambodia, just to supply the China market.

According to China Food Market Analysis 2017 by ResearchandMarkets.com, the revenue of China's food manufacturing sector was RMB 559.9 billion during the third quarter of last year, down by 7.2 percent year on year. The downward trend in overall food prices continued, however, the decline was slower compared to that in the first and second quarters of 2017.

In the third 2017, the decline of food prices in China was 0.9 percent, compared to 1.2 percent in the second quarter of 2017 and 2 percent year on year in first quarter of 2017.

Demand for wafer biscuits and fruit snacks is also increasing in China, as more consumers become increasingly health-conscious, according to report by the Euromonitor Digest which was recently released by the Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau. (FREEMAN)