CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—A team of resource speakers from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and its marketing agency, the Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), explained to local exporters in this city the changes in customs procedures and trade regulations they should expect when the 10 members of the Asean integrate into a single economy next year.
The information session was held during the two-day session under the DTI’s Philippine Export Competitiveness Program (PECP) 2014. Participants were briefed particularly on the importance of proper classification of goods; food regulations for small and medium enterprise exporters; and export-complaint awareness. The EMB, formerly the Bureau of Export Trade Promotion, provides frontline assistance, information, specialized consultancy services, business matching and other export development and promotion services, and enables all players in the industry to compete with products and services from the Philippines’s trading partners.
Data from Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (PhilExport) in Cagayan de Oro showed that Northern Mindanao has more than 200 exporters who contribute to a little over $1 billion in export revenue, or 2 percent of the national export earnings of about $54 billion. Export products of the region, such as the various processed food products, coconut-based food and industrial exports, gifts, toys, housewares and fashion accessories and mineral resource-based products, are mostly homegrown.
The PECP has enjoined the exporters that, while they are encouraged to exploit opportunities, they should exercise due diligence in their business dealings with their buyers and thoroughly validate their identities by coordinating with the different offices of the EMB to avoid problems in the future.
“Before any shipment of goods to buyers, the exporters should investigate the background of his customers and validate with the proper authorities like the DTI and government instrumentalities or trade post in countries where exportation will be made,” said Magdalena Cortez, EMB mediation officer, Export Assistance and Business Matching Division.
PhilExport said that Northern Mindanao’s existing export markets are China, Europe, Japan, Taiwan and the United States, while the emerging foreign markets are Australia, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.
PECP has underscored the importance of proper classification of goods, export market opportunities and trends for food products, particularly in Japan and the South Korean protocol for chicken.
One of the contentious issues discussed during the seminar was the process in resolving complaints arising from, among others, defective products, when one of the contracting parties renege on the provisions of the contract, and when foreign buyers refuse to pay, notwithstanding the classification of products and concerns on tariff and the liability of forwarders concerning products.
EMB said they are mandated to resolve complaints arising from export trade-related transactions that the bureau has set a timetable of 175 days or less, depending on the gravity of the issues presented.