Local firms raise $600M from expo

Purchase agreements reaped by Filipino participants who joined the 2023 China International Import Expo in Shanghai, China have already reached $600 million on its first day, a few million away from its target sales of $700 million.

In a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Rowena Mendoza, officer-in-charge for the Industrial Goods and Services Division of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions or CITEM, the export promotions arm of the Department of Trade and Industry, said a total of 16 manufacturers placed their products in the Philippine Pavilion of the CIIE.

"As of Monday, purchase agreements from Chinese buyers hit a little bit more than $600 million and most of these are fresh fruits, the largest is bananas, followed by durian, pineapples and coconut products," she said.

Chinese interest in Philippine fruits

She said the Chinese market remains interested in Philippine fruits, particularly durian, as consumers are enticed by the quality of Philippine produce.

Accounting for 20 percent of global market consumption, China is the 3rd largest consumer of Durian across the world faring right behind Indonesia and the Philippines.

In 2022 alone, China imported 824,000 tons of fresh durian which was equivalent to $4 billion, which was four times bigger than the volume imported in 2017, based on the report of the World Trade Organization.

The Philippines is more than capable to tap this huge opportunity and address this demand. In 2021, the Philippines yielded more than 70,000 metric tons of fresh durian, with the Davao Region as top producer after covering 78 percent of  total durian production.

Unique fruit

The country has a well-established durian market in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.

To recall, sales of durian also dominated the country's participation during the 20th China-ASEAN Expo held at the Nanning International Convention and Exhibition Center in Nanning, Guangxi province, China last September 2023.

With total generated sales of $10.36 million, durian posted sales of $5.4M, followed by natural-based drink options (calamansi and energy drinks) and banana chips, contributing more than $1.0 million each.

In April of 2023, the Philippines successfully delivered its first shipment of fresh durian to China, signaling the activation of the agreement for direct market access between the countries during the state visit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in January 2023.