Out of the superpowers’ shadows

Anino to spearhead Filipino interactive entertainment industry

“The global market for games outsourcing is set to grow to US$2.5 billion by 2010. That is 40 percent of the total game development spending,” said Niel Dagondon, president of Anino Entertainment, a local interactive entertainment company. “The Philippines should grab a slice of that pie.”

China and Vietnam are leading the way in Asia with the former, which started in 1996, cornering the Japanese outsourcing needs and the latter silently steering the global gaming industry towards competence. The Philippines’ gaming sector started in 2002 with Anino Entertainment at the forefront.

Now, it is time to press the start button on stage 2 of Philippine game development industry.

“Some foreign companies outsource only parts of a particular project. They give us a gun model and ask us to create 50 more variations—in video games you can never run short of weapons! We’ve also done characters’ clothes.”

One emerging subsection of game development is “serious games”. Niel said, “Imagine a real estate company wanting to market its condo units to their audience. Anino can make a 3D environment wherein interested customers can walk through the rooms via a computer. They can change wallpapers, place whatever furniture they want, change color schemes WITHOUT the hassle of having to do the actual physical work.”

Simply put, “serious games” are non-entertainment application of game development software. “It’s being done in the US presently. Local companies are starting to pick up and Anino is once again pioneering it.”

Anino so far has created models for a shampoo product and a department store using “serious games”.

Anino Entertainment made waves in the local gaming industry when it released the first Filipino-made computer game “Anito: Defend a Land Enraged” in 2003.

In February this year, Anino Entertainment’s “Anima Wars”, a mobile phone-based video game using 3G technology, bagged the “Best in Connectivity Award 2006” at the International Mobile Gaming Awards held in Barcelona, Spain.

The company is run by Filipinos headed by its president, Niel Dagondon, and has a partner studio with offices in Canada, US, UK, and Ukraine on the lookout for possible projects in the region. Its target markets include North America, Western and Eastern Europe and Australia.

Anino Entertainment employs 50 of the country’s 250 game developers.

“We want to double that,” Dagondon adds. “We want to be able to handle more subcontracts and projects. We can’t always just turn them over to China and Vietnam whenever we can’t accommodate.”

The Philippines, as a business processing outsourcing destination, presents no language barriers with an annual pool of 380,000 English-speaking college graduates. The games development sector is one of the IT and IT-enabled services that the country is promoting under the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the export promotion arm of the Department of Trade and Industry through the first Philippine participation in the Asian Games Developers Summit in Singapore
(8-9 September) and e-Services Philippines 2008 (11-12 February 2008).

Dagondon further said that the inherent creativity and cultural affinity to the East and West as Filipinos’ main tools in competing for its rightful place in the game development outsourcing industry.

Outsourcing is already common. It is estimated that 60% of game studios from the major markets outsource today; and still, this figure is projected to rise to 90% by next year.

“Bottom line: we definitely have to start pushing the right buttons if we want any of that outsourcing opportunities,” Dagondon states.

Filipino IT firm to run instant messaging solutions in “cell phone hotpots”

Local company D3 Systems, Inc. has expanded the feature of its instant messaging platform, YehBa through a location-based solution called “Cell phone Hotspot” or “Bluezone.”

Wilfredo dela Cruz, president and CEO of D3 Systems said they will give a technology preview of this service in the forthcoming CommunicAsia (June 19-22) in Singapore where YehBa users can have access to YehBa instant messaging services without using the GPRS within the Bluezone. Dela Cruz said the reasoning behind the Bluezone service is to “improve the mobile experience of YehBa users while at the same time providing a zero cost service to mobile users.”

“The Bluezone provides tremendous value to consumers and enterprises by giving them access to mobile marketing, mobile content distribution, information campaign and other interactive services,” he said.
Through CommunicAsia, D3 Systems was able to partner with Airnet Mobile Ltd. And Grameen Phone Ltd., one of the biggest mobile networks in Bangladesh. YehBa, to date, is the leading IM service of Grameen phone subscribers.

The Philippine participation to CommunicAsia is organized by the Department of Trade and Industry’s export promotion arm, Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM). The other participants include: Globe Telecommunications, Innove Communications, Imperium Technology, Network Solutions and Interfaces (NSI), Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Philippine Software Industry Association, Primesoft Philippines, Inc., Smart Communication, and Tsukiden Software Philippines. YehBa is an affordable mobile application for chatting, sharing photo, creating mobile blogs, and joining/creating chatrooms available in more than 150 countries, including the Middle East, India, United States, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia.

Industry statistics show that there are about 34.8 million mobile phone subscribers in the Philippines.
In 2006, Philippine IT firms in CommunicAsia generated $6.2 million dollars, proof of the Philippines’ niche in value-added services like creative content for mobile phones.

Russian rep cites Philippine food prospects in the Russian market

“The Russian food and beverages market is constantly growing at 25% annually,” said Anastasia Shtokolova of the International Cooperation Department, Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI RF). “This sector is forecasted to reach EUR350 billion by 2010 and is expected to be one of the largest grocery markets in Europe.”

The CCI RF provides aid to Russian businessmen—from small businesses to broad-based concerns—in establishing business contacts with foreign partners. CCI RF contributes to the development of Russia's exports and the attraction of foreign investments into the Russian economy.

Shtokolova also said that the latest trends in food and beverages include the growth of small and regional producers, strengthening competition, and changing consumer preferences towards healthy products.

The CCI RF Assistant Director was in Manila as guest speaker for Day 2 of the 4th International Food Exhibition (IFEX) Symposium Series ‘The Global Challenge of Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance in the Australian and Russian Food Markets’ held last May 21-22 at the Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC). This is organized by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), along with the Bureau of Export Trade and Promotion (BETP) and PTTC.

“It is important for Philippine food companies to find a reliable Russian partner who would take care of the distribution of their products in our country. And here the services provided by Russian Federation CCI might be very useful” advised Shtokolova.

During the symposium, Shtokolova explained that foreign goods imported to Russia require GOST R Conformity Certificate issued by the Federal Agency on the Technical Regulation and Metrology (formerly Gosstandart), the Russian authority responsible for standards development and accreditation of almost all consumer products. ‘GOST’ is the Russian word for ‘norm’ while ‘R’ stands for ‘Russia.’ The mandatory GOST R certificate is then issued after a technical evaluation of the food manufacturer’s compliance to Russian safety regulations. Documents required for certification include technical description of the product; protocol of tests; hygienic, phytosanitary, and veterinary certificates; supply contract; commodity-transport documents; and technical documentation of the manufacturer.

Regarding the Russian labeling standards, Shtokolova discussed that the product’s name, producing country, company, weight and volume, ingredients and additives, value storage conditions, and application instructions are all required to be included in the packaging using Russian language.

Russia offers exporters a huge market of 143 million consumers, majority of which reside in highly urban areas such as Moscow and St. Petersburg. Moscow’s largest food retailers like Perekryostok, Seventh Continent and Ramstor plan to open as many as 20 stores. It also plans to invest $3 billion in renovating existing shopping facilities, including well-equipped modern food stores over the next 20 years.

In 2005, Philippine exports to Russia increased by 96% reaching US$36.34 million from US$18.58 million in 2004. Also, the food mission to Russia held last year (Flavors of the Philippines: A Philippine Food Festival in Moscow)) revealed that food products with market potential include, among others, dried fruit, seafood, carageenan, fruit juices, noodles, condiments, food mixes and coconut-based products.

For more information on this IFEX symposium, please call CITEM, Agri-Marine Division at 831-1282, 831-2201 locals. 204 and 238 or e-mail: agrimarine@citem.com.ph.

Food labeling requirements underscored when entering Aussie market

Compliance with food standards is a key factor for local food exporters interested to pursue the Australian food market, said Karen McInnes, an officer of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) during the 4th International Food Exhibition Philippines (IFEX) Symposium held recently.


This includes getting the label requirements right. Ms McInnes advised that labeling is the Australian importers responsibility and encouraged all food exporters to work closely with their Australian importers to cover all labeling requirements. “Truth in labeling is important.”

Ms McInnes said that 72% of imported food failures of food imported into Australia are due to labeling. The key elements in food labeling for Australia include product name, importer name and address (in Australia), country of origin, packing date, date marking, labeling in English, ingredients list, and nutritional claims.

Other labeling elements important in meeting Australian requirements are the nutrition information panel, directions for use and storage, mandatory warning and advisory statements, health claims, prohibited and restricted plants and fungi, pre-market clearance, and specific food product standards, explained Ms McInnes.

Based on statistics, top Philippine food exports to Australia include desiccated coconut, cereals, pineapple juice concentrates, and banana chips and crackers. In 2006, total Philippine food exports to Australia amounted to 24.9 million dollars.

According to Trade Assistant Secretary Fe Agoncillo-Reyes, global food consumption is generally affected by the rising consumer health consciousness, increasing demand for organic food and sugar-free products, increasing consumption of fresh food, and growing multicultural population. “These are opportunities that our food exporters should keep an eye on.”



The 4th IFEX Symposium is organized by the Department of Trade and Industry through its export promotions arm, Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) together with the Bureau of Export Trade Promotion (BETP) and the Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC) to educate exporters on food safety standards in key markets as well as update them on trends and opportunities in the global food market.

McInnes reported that the Philippines has a very high compliance with Australian standards when importing food into Australia and was encouraged by the desire by the Philippine exporters to improve.

Food fair becomes launching pad for new products

SMEs meet exciting prospects at a food fair

New food products from small enterprises made a strong presence at the recent 4th International Food Exhibition (IFEX) Philippines, an annual government led trade show for the food industry.

“The trade show allowed small enterprises to strengthen their position in the local and international market,” said Toni Nanola of YY Sea International Corporation, a manufacturer of spanish-style sardines and olive oil variants – two of the best-selling food products of the company at the fair.

“We received a total booked order of about 41 million pesos. We also received trade inquiries on toll packing, direct export and joint ventures,” added Nanola. “In addition, we were also able to export our products to Saudi, Dubai, Canada, United States, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, China, and Korea.”

Another company Chanos Chanos introduced new products like the bangus sisig, bangus tinapa cheese spread, and bangus liver pate and received serious trade inquiries from highly interested buyers.

Aside from providing food manufacturers the opportunity to network with major retailers, the show also served to survey the tastes and preferences of consumers and identify potential products for marketing locally and internationally.

Puto seko cookies (coconut cream-based) from Marky’s Primebake Corporation were also a best seller during the fair. The company secured about 300, 000 pesos worth of orders through the show. Buyers from the United States and the Middle East also sought distributorship of MPC’s products.

Cormel Foods’ sukang iloko also caught the interest of buyers from California as well as Japan, and the Middle East. “Sixty percent of our buyers sought sukang iloko and we are hopeful that
we’ll have more orders because of the number of buyers we met.”

IFEX is organized by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the export promotion arm of the Department of Trade and Industry that serves as a convergence point for food exporters and key foreign and local buyers. The show also features the Partner Region Program that provides opportunities to the featured region to market their products. This program is co-organized together with the Department of Science and Technology, San Miguel Packaging Products, Philippine Trade Training Center, Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Tourism.

The fair is sought-after by prominent buyers of Philippine products all over the world. Some of the important foreign buyers who went to IFEX this year were: Asian Commodities (United States); TNT Supermarket (Canada); Manning Impex (UK); Almaya Group (Middle East); and Nishida Kogyo Corp (Japan).

Aside from bringing together SMEs, the fair also served as a launching pad for new food products with potential in the market.

“We were able to launch our sautéed bagoong in different variants through IFEX. We were able to close deals with buyers from the United States, Canada, Dubai, Hawaii, Guam, Qatar, Hong Kong, Japan, and New Zealand. Aggregately, we are looking at initial orders of about 4,000 cases a month,” said Joric Eleazar, vice president for operations of Max’s QC Group of Companies.

Spicy tamarind balls from Gold Seed Tamarind, canned goat meat from Fortress Foods Corp.and microwaveable saba bananas also met important trade inquiries for distribution locally and abroad.

“IFEX is just one step forward towards marketing and promoting our food products from SMEs. These products are manufactured by our SMEs with dedication and passion and we need to support them so they can become competitive in the global market,” said Trade Assistant Secretary Fe Agoncillo-Reyes, executive director of CITEM.