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THE
local European Chamber of Commerce (ECCP) has added
another negative effect of a strong peso on Philippine
exporters: the sector now just attends one or two
international trade shows a year instead of the usual
four or five before the rise of the currency against the
dollar.
“Now,
they are just joining as much as two a year, and that’s
bad because buyers would naturally look for other
suppliers if they don’t see you often,” said Wilbert L.
Novero, ECCP vice president for international affairs.
He said
“a lot of macroeconomic factors contributed to the
decline in our exporters’ entry to international trade
shows like Messe Frankfurt; but basically, it’s recently
because of the strong peso.”
Novero
spoke to the press after the presentation of Messe
Frankfurt GMbH, a holding company 60-percent owned by
the city of Frankfurt and 40 percent by the state of
Hesse, Germany, which sponsors trade shows.
Messe
Frankfurt regional director for Asia-Pacific Shammi
Nagpal said that last year, 148 exhibitors from the
Philippines joined the trade show, a number that has
been declining since 2002.
Novero’s
group, Fairs & More, an ECCP subsidiary, provides
business support to exporters participating in Messe
Frankfurt’s shows (46 in Germany and 64 overseas, as of
June 2007) and brokers a minimum 50 international trade
shows every year.
“Based
on my discussions with exhibitors, the strong peso
hasn’t led to a decline in costs, especially in the raw
materials. Their overhead is not declining, so they have
tightened their belts, cut costs, and laid off workers,”
said Novero.
Nagpal
said an expected 90,000 buyers have already signed for
their January 2008 fabrics-focused trade show in Germany
called Heimtextil, which offers a trade opportunity
worth $200,000 for each medium-scale company.
“The
opportunity is fairly high because contract buying is
better than selling only to retailers,” said Novero,
explaining that the expected buyers in this trade show
are real estate developers and those in the hotel
business who buy in bulk. “For instance, a developer is
building a hotel with 5,000 rooms and they need one
candle holder per room. Imagine the business that that
would generate to the exporter.”
ECCP
chief Henry J. Schumacher said European companies are
looking at the Philippines for more value-added
products, especially in textile and textile furnishings.
“Price is no longer a determinant today because the push
is more towards higher quality and we’re seeing the
Philippines
as one of the major sources for these [high-quality]
products.”
He is
also optimistic the buying capability of European
countries is higher compared to the
United States.
“In Germany, we’re looking at the glass now as more
half-full rather than half-empty. Our GDP has increased
and consumer confidence is fairly high.”
ECCP
data showed Philippine exports to 25 countries
comprising the European Union increased by 17 percent to
$3.16 billion last year from $2.7 billion in 2005.
Exports
to Germany increased 28 percent to nearly $1.8 billion
from $1.4 billion in 2005. Nonetheless, the US remains
the country’s largest Philippine buyer with $8.6
billion. |
