The Chile workshop and the first business-to-business meeting between Chilean exporters of fresh fruits and importers from the Philippines took place yesterday in Manila, capital city of the Republic of the Philippines.
According to information provided by Christian Carvajal, Marketing Manager for Asia of Chile's Fruit Exporters Association AG, (ASOEX), this is the first time a Chilean fruit delegation is visiting the Philippines. The aim of the tour was to assess the status of the national fruit in this market and to find new business opportunities.
This tour is part of the Exploration Mission that ASOEX, together with ProChile and country's embassies in these markets, performs in Southeast Asia. "We visited supermarkets and wholesale markets as well as a packing company and a national distribution company as part of our visit to the Philippines. The objective of this activity was to see first hand how the fruit is marketed in this country and gather feedback from the Filipino importers so we can make improvements where necessary. In addition, the initiative allowed each fruit producer-exporter to visualize new business through a direct meeting with their counterparts," said Carvajal.
It's worth noting that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a market of 619 million people, where the economy grew 8.9% in 2012, and that offers multiple opportunities for Chilean exporters. Total Chilean exports to this trading bloc reached US$ 1,256 million in 2012, while Chilean fruit exports to the Philippines reached 5,285 tons, 96% of which were table grapes.
While trade between Chile and the Philippines is the sixth largest that Chile has with the ASEAN countries, this is a market of 100 million people, where 20% percent corresponds to an upper middle class with growing purchasing power to follow the new global trend of eating healthier. During the first two quarters of this year the Philippines has grown by 7.8%, surpassing even China.
According to the Chilean Ambassador to the Philippines, Roberto Mayorga, this growth is evident in the dynamic local consumption, "domestic demand, comprising over 70 percent of GDP, has been driven by private investment and consumers growth."
Some interesting facts about the Philippines include that 10% of its population works abroad, engaged in areas such as domestic service, construction and technical work; this nation was a Spanish colony for 333 years and then, for 48 years, a colony to the United States, thereby making it a bilingual country (English-Tagalog), although there are a few people who still speak Spanish.