Saturday, May 26, 2007 Free online services available for RP exporters to Canada
THE Philippine Embassy in Canada strongly encourages Philippine export companies to avail of Canada's free web-based services.
The Philippine post in Canada informed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that in a seminar-meeting held recently with officials of Canada's International Trade and Trade Facilitation Office of Canada (TFOC), it was announced that Philippine companies that are interested to market and export their products to Canada could avail of and register for free with TFOC's online services, a web-based mechanism for exporters and potential buyers to do business.
The news was relayed to the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) by Vincent L. Uy, special assistant, Office of the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations of the DFA.
TFOC's web-based services will enable interested Philippine exporters to register at www.tfoc.ca to upload basic information of its company profile and products, including photos of products, price list and factory site, of vital interest to over prospective 1,000 Canadian importers in TFOC's database.
However, TFOC's executive director Dwayne Wright, said local companies are required to have at least one year exporting experience for a more realistic trade opportunity considering that Canada is a sophisticated market.
Philip Kelly, TFOC's project manager, emphasized that exporters must be encouraged to register with TFOC's online services which provide a viable alternative to access Canadian consumers, especially considering that Canada ranked as the 10th largest importer in world in 2004. Canada's openness to imports makes an appealing market for international exporters.
In his discussion on the overview of the Canadian market, Mr. Brian Mitchell, TFOC's Program Director, highlighted that Canadian buyers are: affluent but price conscious; health and environmentally conscious of use of products and ingredients; and more resistant to change, which means they tend to stick to one product or product supplier.
Canada, according to Mitchell, has the highest ratio of trade imports among G-8 countries; imports mostly finished products; and imports more services.
Philippine Ambassador To Canada, Jose S. Brillantes, urged Philippine export companies to take advantage of and use this export diagnostic tool that is basically designed to connect locally interested exporters with their prospective Canadian buyers. (Philexport News and Features/Sunnex)
