P18-million sales expected to be generated in 3rd Coco Coir Summit
Business Mirror
August 23, 2016
MORE than P18 million worth of orders of coco-coir products were booked during the business matching conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) during the Third Coco Coir Summit in Davao City held on July 29.
Local company Green Asia Inc. placed an order of P12 million and P6 million worth of coconets and coco peat, respectively, from four different companies and farmer cooperatives in Mindanao. The order totaled more than 10,000 rolls of 1×50 meters of coco geotextile and approximately 2,000 trucks of raw coco peat every month.
Green Asia Inc. is one of the leading producers of coco geotextiles for soil-erosion control and river-rehabilitation projects in the country. The company also designs and installs geotextiles in slopes and roadside projects. Green Asia also sells coco peat to the export markets. Nena Eroy, the firm’s marketing manager, said they export more than 36 containers of peat to Korea, Japan and Malaysia.
Coco peat is used as animal bedding material or soil medium for plants and ornamental horticulture.
Another local buyer Exchequer Trade also booked an order of $3,800 a month of coco peat for a China buyer.
The coir summit provided local companies the chance to meet with local and foreign buyers of nonfood products in a day of business-to-business meetings. Local buyers usually consist of consolidators, traders and contractors of projects for the Department of Public Works and Highways and the National Irrigation Administration.
The coir summit is held every two years and is a project of the National Technical Working Group (NTWG) on Coco Coir, cochaired by DTI Undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya and Philippine Coconut Authority’s Deputy Administrator Roel Rosales. Assistant Regional Director Marcelita Alcantara, head of DTI Coco Coir Cluster, leads the 2016 coir summit.
This year’s event was dovetailed to Cocolink 2016 in order to enhance and give the first International Coconut Conference (ICC) a boost.
DTI-EMB’s task was to conduct and manage the business meetings and invite foreign buyers as lead of the NTWG’s subcommittee on market and promotion.
The summit also presented a wide array of speakers from both the government and the private sector. DTI Assstant Secretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba provided insights on Asean Economic Integration. DTI-EMB Director Senen M. Perlada presented the Global Market Trends/Opportunities for Coco Coir Products in the Export Market.
Ariel Aguirre, president of the Philippine Coconut Coir Exporters Association Inc. (Philcoir), presented the Coco Coir Situationer and Performance.
Businessman Fakih N.P., CEO of Fakih Group of Cos. in United Arab Emirates, provided the trends and prospects of coir products in the Middle East.
Also discussed were opportunities in the domestic market for coco geotextiles as soil-erosion control material. There was also sharing of experiences from successful producers of coir products in the regions.□
Ma. Melvin Joves, Product Officer, Coconut Sector, Food and Agri-Marine Division, Export Marketing Bureau, Department of Trade and Industry