Phl exporters to benefit from zero tariff to EU

CEBU, Philippines - Philippine exports to the European Union are expected to increase as local exporters benefit from zero tariff on products sold to EU member countries.

The EU Parliament recently qualified the Philippines for the General System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status which grants zero duty for 6,274 products exported to EU within 10 years.

The Department of Trade and Industry said GSP+, an expanded tariff-reduction scheme, would allow the nation’s exports to the EU hike by 611.8 million euros.

The projected rise in exports would also create 267,587 new jobs in agriculture and manufacturing sectors, it said.

Senen Perlada, the agency’s Export Marketing Bureau director, said exporters need to take advantage of such trade tariff scheme which allows market access and investment benefit.

“This is our opportunity to get better slice of this pie [market],” Perlada told exporters in a forum in Cebu yesterday, referring to the potential EU market which has 28 member countries. The DTI-organized forum talked about doing business with EU using GSP+.

He said the agency wants businesses to be aware of GSP+ scheme.

Fred Escalona, executive director of Philexport Cebu, said that while EU is a very “lucrative market” to penetrate, it is also strict in terms of market entry requirements.

He particularly cited the importance of quality in selling goods to EU nations. So it is essential, he said, for local exporters to make their products competitive in the international market.

The country was a beneficiary of the regular GSP program which covers 6,209 goods, 2,442 of which are subject to zero duty while 3,767 are subject to reduced tariffs.

Under such regular trade arrangement, the country’s exports to the EU in 2013 reached 1.69 billion euros or 33 percent of total exports to the bloc.

The product sectors that are projected to have increases in terms of export value with GSP+ include textiles and garments (79.7 million euros), food (151.2 million euros), animal or vegetable fats and oils (231.2 million euros) and footwear and head-wear (28.5 million euros).

Major Philippine exports under the EU GSP scheme are: crude coconut oil (223 million euros), canned tuna (79.19 million euros), pneumatic tires (39.44 million euros), spectacle lenses (35.56 million euros), relays (30.20 million euros), preserved fruits (21.09 million euros), and ballasts for discharge lamps (18.90 million euros). These comprised almost 43 percent of the country’s total exports under the scheme. (FREEMAN)