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ISTANBUL—A member of the Philippine delegation to the recently concluded
Asia-Pacific Bridge Conference here brought with him a
Philippine product that is not yet a popular commodity
in Turkey.
In exchange, Filipino businessmen are
assessing opportunities in Turkey-made products, which,
however, are priced higher than goods made in China.
But their interest took the cue from the
common sales pitch of both government and business
sector which is: If we can’t compete with China on
prices, then we fight them on quality.”
Turkey and the Philippines have
something in common. For one, both produce furniture.
“They reminded us of our carvers in Paete [Laguna] and
Pampanga,” said Samson Lim, president of the Philippine
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).
Michael Tiu Lim, vice president for operations of Ayala
Seafood Corp., has been promoting Mega sardines for his
family’s company and other Philippine-made products here
as vice president of the Zamboanga City Chamber of
Commerce.
The family-owned company is not related
to the Ayala Corp., the listed holding company of the
Zobel family. “It is the name of the place where we
operate,” Tiu Lim said.
A fellow delegate was not as lucky. If
Tiu Lim may have a chance at hitting the market in
Turkey, where there are only 4,000 Filipino workers,
Alwyn Lee, whose family owns a noodle factory,
discounted any opportunity here. “They,” Lee said,
referring to Turkish, “don’t eat noodles.”
Lee’s claim is true as restaurants here
don’t serve either noodle soup or pancit, which are
known as common servings in restaurants back home.
Apparently, 26-year-old Tiu Lim, who
came here with his wife, got a big encouragement in his
sales pitch when, most of the time, the Filipinos and
delegates from other countries in the Asia-Pacific
region were served lamb and chicken with vegetables as
the appetizer in their four days of stay in Istanbul.
Luckily for Filipinos, they had a taste
of fish the day after they took a 45-minute
flight—courtesy of their host Confederation of
Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey— to Izmir,
whose history dates back to 3000 B.C., on June 19. It
was their only meal with fish as the main dish until
some of them flew home on Friday. An ice-cream maker was
their lunch host on Thursday at Manisa, a provice in
Western Turkey.
Making a sales pitch for Philippine
sardines in other countries is not new to Tiu Lim. Ayala
Seafoods, he said, has been exporting Mega sardines to
the United States, Canada, Malaysia, Europe and Central
America.
Although Ayala Seafoods did not provide
numbers in its profile, it said it hit record sales in
2007 and is aiming to “increase export volume by 30
percent in 2008.” The projection was made before the
Turkey conference.
Ayala Seafoods gets its tamban supplies
from Mega Fishing Corp., which also supplies 80 percent
of the raw materials—which are fish —required by canning
companies in Metro Manila and Zamboanga.
To Filipino importers, the distance
between Turkey and the Philippines may be a discouraging
factor in buying Turkey-made products. But PCCI’s Lim,
whose family owns a chain of appliance stores, said
there might be a solution to this.
Lim said if he could get a reduced
freight by tapping the cargoless ship from Turkey to
bring back goods from Asia-Pacific, he would be in
business. He and his son Chris, who flew from China,
where he is based as the family business’s marketing
man, have been scouting for Turkey-made products while
attending the three-day conference. |
