Foreign buyers expected to participate in FAME

MANILA, Philippines - Foreign buyers of lifestyle and creative products are expected to participate in the upcoming Manila Furnishings and Apparel Merchandise Exchange (FAME) International next month to seek out suppliers of their local and global market requirements.

The foreign buyers include a large contingent from Taiwan and a multinational corporate delegation from Hallmark, a global supplier of greeting cards, gifts and gift wrappers, and keepsake ornaments.

“Manila FAME’s October exhibition is expected to yield higher export sales than last April’s because of its much bigger delegation of foreign buyers,” executive director Rosvi C. Gaetos of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) said.

“Taiwan’s 21 buyers alone in Manila Fame’s April show registered booked and negotiated purchases of almost a million dollars,” Gaetos said.

For the October show, the government has confirmed so far 15 Taiwanese buyers. Philippine products imported by the Taiwanese buyers in Manila Fame last April were gifts and premium, home accent and decors, lamps and lightings, furniture, and garden accessories.

Lifestyle and creative products accounted for 12.7 percent or $6.5 billion of total merchandise exports of $51.5 billion in 2010.

As the export marketing arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), CITEM is headlining the Philippines as the primary design and product source hub in the Asian region as it pursues demand-driven design innovations, which will be showcased in the 54th edition of the Manila FAME in October.

The October show aptly carries the theme “Weaving Dreams” as it brings together the country’s other major sourcing events to brand the Philippines as “Asia’s Premier Design Destination.” These events are the Manila Now, Cebu Next, and Bijoux Cebu.

Also interwoven in the show are three strategic demand-driven thematic designs Mood Indigo, Naturalist, and Graffiti.

Organized by CITEM, the Manila FAME is supported by the Philippine Airlines and the business support organizations of various export industry sectors.