MANILA: Trade and industry officials are positioning the Philippines as Denmark’s gateway into the Asean, particularly in fish export and import, as well as fishing technology.
This was the message of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) Director Senen M. Perlada during the agency’s country and industry briefing to a visiting 15 company Danish-business delegation.
The DTI official said the Philippines is a prime choice for the Scandinavian country to access the rest of Asean, given the country’s strength in the agri-processing.
In terms of improving bilateral trade, Danish companies have a big potential to set up trading headquarters or operations in the Philippines because of the opening up of the Asean market, according to Perlada. “I think the Philippines is a very logical choice for Denmark to consider, as a platform for Asean.”
The foreign business delegation is composed of players in the fishing industry, particularly suppliers of technology and seafood processors. The group will be in the country to explore opportunities with Filipino counterparts until today.
Perlada said the Philippines has been able to leverage its free-trade agreements (FTA) via Asean, making it now a net exporter of frozen smoked salmon.
Through the Asean-Australia New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, the Philippines are able to import the salmon from New Zealand and process them locally before exporting them to viable markets such as Japan.
“If you are a brand owner or have clients that are brand owners, I think it would make sense for you to consider the Philippines as a possible platform to supply smoked salmon to other countries,” Perlada said.
Denmark stands as the third-largest fisheries producer with the European Union (EU) bloc.
For the Philippines’s side, it also stands to gain from closer trade relations due to the granting of the EU-Generalized System of Preferences Plus (EU-GSP+), as tariffs on over 6,000 Philippine products have been temporarily slashed to zero or significantly reduced.
EU’s import tariffs on fishery products, such as canned tuna, canned sardines, fresh chilled tuna and frozen tuna, among other marine products, came from a high of 24 percent.
And with the 28-member EU bloc revoking its threat of a yellow card last year, both the Philippines and Denmark are confident the way ahead is clear for better trade and investment relations. A yellow card is a temporary warning that may lead to an importation ban on fishery products.
“We’ve expressed from the EU side earlier, and there is an agreement from the Philippine side to live up to [our] standards of fishing, fighting illegal-fishing practices and fishing vessels because we’re not allowed to import products that have not been made in a legal way,” Ambassador of Denmark to the Philippines, Jan Top Christensen, said in an interview. “But, apart from that, we are looking at the business opportunities for both sides in this sector. We are optimistic that the coming days will be the basis for further negotiations and partnerships.”
Based on DTI data, Philippines-Denmark trade relations have room to improve. Denmark stands as the Philippines’s 48th export market as of 2014, shipping out only $38 million worth of goods to the European nation that year.
As a supplier, Denmark stands as the 32nd-biggest importing source, with the Philippines bringing in goods worth $123 million from Denmark.
A considerable hurdle, however, are the steep quality standards imposed in the EU—an area which the Philippines can benefit from if agri-technology is brought in by Danish companies.
Denmark’s envoy said there is still untapped potential and encourages more cooperation this year as the two countries celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations.
The business delegation will be meeting with major local players in the fishing industry, such as Frabelle Group Inc., Century Pacific Foods Inc., as well as the Alliance of Philippine Fishing Federation Inc. and Inter-Island Deep Fishing Association.
The business delegation was organized by marketing consultancy Andersen Consult.