NOTING the need to further capacitate the Philippines’ export sector, an official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, said a support program is being formulated with the World Bank (WB) to boost exporters’ competitiveness.
The partnership is among the programs lined up by the DTI for 2026, as announced during the Exporters’ Week event in a hotel in Mandaluyong City.
Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) Director and Export Development Council (EDC) executive director Bianca Pearl Sykimte told journalists in an interview that they have weekly meetings with WB representatives to polish the program, which will provide technical and financial aid.
No amount has been determined yet for this program, but Sykimte said, “it’s going to be a sizable support for our exporting community.”
“We want to field course consultants and experts to guide them (exporters) through the process. We want them to be able to improve their quality management systems and how they would be able to comply with certification. And then, of course, when you comply with the certifications, there is also the investment process, it may require upgrades of technology (and) more training for the people. We’re looking at a mix of grants and concessional loans,” she said.
During her presentation, the DTI official said Philippine exporters have access to around 200 markets globally, but only 10 markets account for about 81.6 percent of the total.
These are the US, 16.6 percent; Japan and Hong Kong, both at 14.1 percent; China, 12.9 percent; South Korea, 4.9 percent; Thailand and Singapore, both at four percent; the Netherlands, 3.9 percent; Taiwan, 3.7 percent; and Germany, 3.4 percent.
Also, the number of exporters has declined, and while DTI has not done any in-depth study to assess the situation, Sykimte traced this partly to consolidations, wherein smaller companies tie up with bigger players, and to investors’ decision to just focus on the local market.
“Again, we don’t have an in-depth study on this, but in terms of export figures, you can see that there’s growth,” she said.
Preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that exports grew by 19.4 percent on an annual basis in October alone to US$7.39 billion, while the 10-month level rose 13.8 percent to $70.43 billion. / PNA