The Department of Trade and Industry is recalibrating the Philippines’ export growth target and has placed its Export Marketing Bureau directly under Trade Secretary Cristina Roque as the government seeks to open more markets for local products.
Roque said the revised export target is still being calculated and that she would not provide a new figure until the numbers are finalized.
“Yes, actually, we’re just calculating it now. Because of the free trade agreements, we really will,” Roque said when asked whether DTI was resetting its export target.
She said exports have been performing strongly, growing 10.8 percent from January through the latest available period, but said further gains would depend on the ability of Philippine exporters to enter new markets.
“The focus of my office this year is exports and the local market,” Roque said.
She said DTI would increase trade shows and other market-promotion initiatives to showcase Philippine products and help exporters find new buyers.
The move to place the Export Marketing Bureau under the Office of the Secretary gives Roque more direct oversight of the agency’s export-promotion efforts as DTI works to translate trade agreements into actual market opportunities for Philippine companies.
Halal is also emerging as a potential export-growth area.
Roque said DTI is working toward a memorandum of understanding with Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank to facilitate financing for halal businesses, including certification, export expansion, and slaughterhouse facilities.
“We have so many products. The only problem is the certification,” she said.
The proposed financing could support businesses entering the halal industry as well as existing companies seeking to expand, although the size of the potential facility has yet to be determined.
For DTI, the broader push is to move beyond securing trade access and help Philippine companies meet the certification, production, financing, and market-development requirements needed to compete in those markets.
