Green products to help Philexport hit ’16 goal

The Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (Philexport) will focus on green exports as one of the organization’s core strategies to realize its goal of P120 billion export sales by 2016.

Fred Escalona, executive director of Philexport Cebu, said in a statement that the organization was aggressively promoting green exports, which was a special goal of the newly created Export Development Council (EDC) for 2011 to 2013 and approved by the Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo.

Escalona said that a number of exporters were venturing into the natural and organic products market, which was estimated to be a trillion-dollar market for global exporters.

He said the new strategy was included in the three-year export plan that would be implemented by exporters and their partners in government starting this year.

“Green exports was defined by the EDC (Export Development Council) as natural and organic products (NOP). Their inclusion as a special focus of attention was motivated by the fact that the market has grown to a trillion-dollar-a-year market based on figures gathered by the Bureau of Export Trade Promotions (BETP),” he said.

The EDC also found out that there were also a growing number of exporters who were already in the natural and organic products business.

The EDC and the BETP will continue to work together to support these exporters.

Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr., Philexport president and EDC vice chairperson, said during the recent Philexport national membership conference in Manila, that a way to help these green exporters would be to tie up the NOP sector, particularly its health and wellness branch, with the local tourism industry.

Ortiz-Luis Jr cited promotions for the green products to be synchronized with the different promotion programs of the Department of Tourism.

They will also push efforts to set up infrastructure like testing laboratories for Philippine green products to meet international safety, health and quality standards, Escalona said.

Asteria Caberte, Department of Trade and Industry regional director, agreed with this strategy.

Caberte said that she was supporting the promotion of green products not only among exporters but also retailers with partners and outlets abroad.

“I want to let our retailers realize that sustainable consumption or production using green products is not only about compliance and something that they do for CSR (corporate social responsibility) projects but an opportunity for new markets. In Europe alone, this is very big,” she said.

“The opportunity for green products in Europe is a major one especially in green fashion and green jewelry. It’s growing,” Caberte said.

One product that Caberte said was a big hit abroad is the local “bayong” or native bag, which has evolved into a well-preferred shopping bag for many women abroad.

“We can make bayong here and dress it up then sell it abroad. The value is at least 10 times more than the price of an ordinary bayong here,” Caberte said.