The Philippine exhibit this year in Germany will focus on the country’s ‘Premium 7’ export products, namely banana, cacao, coconut, coffee, mango, pineapple and tuna

Banking on tropical food products, 31 Philippine food companies representing the country in a food and beverage trade fair in Germany on 5 to 9 October are expecting to clock in export sales worth $66 million.

In 2017, 19 Filipino firms registered $65.7 million in its participation in the Allgemeine Nahrungs- und Genussmittel-Ausstellung (Anuga) in Cologne, Germany, known as the world’s largest and most important food and beverage fair.

The Philippine delegation will be led by the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Center for International Trade and Expositions (CITEM) and Missions and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (MPTIC).

“The Philippine exhibit this year in Germany will focus on the country’s ‘Premium 7’ export products, namely banana, cacao, coconut, coffee, mango, pineapple and tuna. We want traders and food enthusiasts in Anuga to see how our products and ingredients can be used in European kitchens and restaurants,” CITEM executive director Pauline Suaco-Juan said.

The representatives are also set to participate in business-matching activities slated in the event. Anuga brings together 165,000 trade visitors from 198 countries under 10 specialized trade shows featuring diverse product selections in the global food industry.

According to Suaco-Juan, the country is aiming to capitalize on its inclusion under the European Union’s (EU)Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP+), the benefits under which the country has been enjoying since 2011.

The GSP+ allows 6,274 local products enter the EU without tariff on condition that the country complies with the 27 core international conventions involving environmental protection, good governance, and human and labor rights.

DTI Undersecretary for trade promotions group Abdulgani Macatoman said the Philippine participation can pave the way for increasing the country’s utilization rate of the GSP+. It would also further diversify the export products covered by the scheme.

The EU’s 2019 GSP assessment report notes that the Philippines is the second most diversified export portfolio under the GSP+ with 3,047 tariff lines covered from 2014 to 2016, next only to Pakistan. Utilization rate was at 68.9 percent in the same time period.

The trade arrangement is made available for a timeline of 10 years to low or lower-middle income countries.

Germany is the country’s top trading partner among EU countries in 2018, with total trade of $5.24 billion or 30 percent of total EU trade. Export revenues to Germany were worth $2.79 billion while import receipts amounted to $2.46 billion.