Fruit exporter cites JPEPA for higher sales

MANILA, Philippines - A local fruit exporter to Japan said the Japan Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) has helped boost the company’s sales by 41 percent last year.

In a statement, Primefruits International, a producer of banana chips and nata de coco, reported that their company’s sales grew by 41 percent in 2009 after the JPEPA was implemented.

Primefruits said that the JPEPA helped them compete better against Ecuador and other Central American countries who do not enjoy the same preferential benefits.

According to Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) offer strategic benefits to our exporters. “Encouraging more companies to utilize our existing FTAs will further boost the country’s competitiveness, generate jobs, and strengthen our good standing in the global market,” Domingo said.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is improving the competitiveness of Filipino exporters by creating business opportunities in markets where the country has FTAs.

Domingo said that the Philippine FTA with Japan offers small companies, like Primefruits opportunities to strengthen their engagement with Japanese importers. Primefruits has 400 workers and has the capacity to produce 60 tons of banana chips per day and could maximize daily production of up to100 tons.

Japan is the world’s fourth largest market, with close to $551 billion total merchandise imports from the rest of the world in 2009. It has 126 million consumer base and $5.1 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) for the same period.

To further help local companies explore and benefit from FTA markets, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and the Philippine ExportersConfederation

(Philexport) together with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Bureau of Customs (BOC), and the Tariff Commission (TC) are conducting a nationwide series of business forums on

“Doing Business in Free Trade Areas” or DBFTA.

Topics in the DBFTA forums include business opportunities for importers and exporters arising from the tariff liberalization, application procedures for Certificate of Origin (CO) to avail of the preferential tariffs, and other relevant information when addressing Philippine FTA markets including ASEAN, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

The DBFTA is open to businesses in various stages of growth and operations that are planning to expand into other markets and increasing their exports and profits by utilizing the foreign trade agreements.