Monday, May 21, 2007

Glenda Barretto is IFEX food director

Glenda Rosales-Barretto, one of the country's most successful chefs and retaurateurs, will be the food director of this year's International Food Exhibition (IFEX) Philippines to be held May 18-20 at the World Trade Center, Manila.

IFEX, now on its fourth year, showcases the best offerings of the lovcal food industry. It is organized by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
This year, the festival focuses on "Filipino Food in a Global Setting."
Barretto has been helping CITEM in international food expos where it paticipates, helping exporters develop recipes that can be cooked in other countries.

She suggests that, aside from particpating in trade fairs and local food exhibitions, the government also makes a conscious effort to help food companies put up restaurants in places like Paris, New York, London, or Milan.
She says she is willing to train people who will run those restaurants.
The restaurateur says her dream is for Philippine cuisine to be recognized internationally and for Filipinos to be proud of their unique cuisine.

Barretto owns the Via Mare chain. Its first restaurant in Legazpi Village, Makati that opened in 1975 was the first fine dining seafood restaurant in the country. Via Mare became the caterer of choice for Malacañang food events.
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, May 17, 2007, page D1

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Local firms to join Asia's biggest IT fair

Ten local firms, including Philippine Long Distance telephone Co. and Global Telecommunications, are joining Asia's biggest information technology trade show in Singapore next month to promote the Philippine brand of services, especially wireless communications.

Stephen Tan, chief executive of Singapore Exhibition Services Pte. Ltd., organizer of CommunicAsia 2007, said in a briefing that the interactivem digital media, and entertainment segments would be in the spotlight in this year's fair.
"Observers project that the media and entertainment industry in the Asia Pacific market will hit$431 billion by 2009," Tan said. "The Philippine govenrnment has continued to ensure the particpation of Philippine companies at CommunicAsia to help in creating a bigger market for them,' he said.
Local firms started to join in 2004 when the enter for International Trade Expositions and Missions organized a group to showcase the country's telecommunications and software development sectors.

This year, aside from PLDT and Globe, other particpants include D3 Systems Inc., Emerson Network Power, Innove Communications, Institute of Electronics Enginees of the Philippines, Mabuhay Satellite Corp., Philippine Software Industry Association, Software Effective Solutions, and Sysnet Integrators.

In a statement, Trade Secretary Favila said the presence of local firms in CommunicAsia aims at promoting the Philippine brand of ICT services to Asia and the world.

Trade Assistant Secretary Fe Aoncillo-Reyes, also the CITEM executive director, had reported that local firms clinched contracts worth a total of $6.2 million in last year's fair, which showed their hold in the niche of value-added services like creative content in mobile phones.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, May 9, 2007
Ronnel W. Domingo

Milkfish company makes a splash in the local food scene

Chanos Chanos Trading specializes on one of the national symbols of the Philippines: the milkfish, otherwise known as bangus in Filipino, with the scientific name where this company got its title. This food manufacturer lives up to its business name for their sole product is bangus. And talking about national symbols—say coconut as the tree of life—Chanos Chanos has made milkfish the fish of life. This is because they can practically turn bangus into almost anything: from daing, tinapa, and belly, to siomai, kikiam, siopao, fishball, longganisa, empanada, chicharon, sisig, and burger.

“Name it, we’ve got it,” brags Ramon Rodriguez, General Manager of Chanos Chanos, when he talks about the company’s capability to transform the Philippines’ national fish into a number of mouth-watering foodstuffs and dishes. “I guess it is the quality and diverseness of our bangus products that make restaurants and resorts pine for our supply.” Yes, Chanos Chanos is catering its fresh and tasty food items to famous diners like Max’s, Pancake House, Gerry’s Grill, and Villa Escudero for years.

This food enterprise, which started as a bangus grower in Batangas in 1983, is taking another step towards exporting. Right now, Chanos Chanos attends food seminars and local exhibits in order to learn the process of developing their products, preparing the food safely, and of course, promoting its brand abroad.


Chanos Chanos at IFEX 2007

This coming May 18-20 at the World Trade Center, Manila, Chanos Chanos is going to join the International Food Exhibition (IFEX) Philippines, the most exciting marketplace showcasing the best offerings of the Philippine food industry.

“This will be our first time to exhibit in IFEX and we hope that this event would be the stepping-stone for our products to be accepted and recognized worldwide,” Ramon wishes. “Maraming matutuhan sa IFEX because it is not just an exhibit but also a venue where SMEs can learn things they thought they already knew like in packaging, food preparation, cleanliness, and hazard analysis.”

Ramon explains that he and his team are currently attending a number food seminars through the Partner Region Program that CITEM (Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, organizer of IFEX Philippines) holds in preparation for the upcoming IFEX.

Under the Partner Region Program, or PRP, select food companies from a region are given the necessary training to help them in manufacturing safe and quality products and equip them with knowledge in more effective negotiation with both local and foreign buyers. The products—in their enhanced packaging and labels—are showcased in a special setting during IFEX. The participating companies are also given a separate area where they can conduct negotiations with interested buyers.

This year, IFEX will feature the appetizing products of Region 4A or CALABARZON. For Cavite, PRP participants are: Deli de Lata (duck stew), Carm Foods Enterprise (assorted smoked and dried fish), Café Amadeo (brewed coffee), Farm Treasures (pickled fruits and vegetables), Ocean Fresh Tahong (tahong chips, crispy tahong, adobong tahong, sugpo crackers), and Mercedita C. Perea (smoked and dried fish).


For Laguna, the PRP members include Escaba Sweets (fruit preserves), Guaranfoods Manufacturing (catsup, mayonnaise, vinegar), Norman’s Bakery (pilipit, uraro, shing-a-ling), Lety’s Buko Pie tropical fruit pies, espasol), Choco Vron Ventures (chocolate coated pulvoron), and Aling Nene’s Buko Pie and Puto Biñan. Chanos Chanos, LIMCOMA (cold cuts), and Emelda’s Sweet Tamarind will represent the Batangas province; Balaw-Balaw (balaw balaw sauce, adobong itik) and Fortress Food Products (goat stew, caldereta, papaitan) for the Rizal area; and Abcece Lucban Langgonisa and Meat Products for the Quezon province.

After attending one of the PRP seminars, Ramon, with all the new information that he learned, started remodeling its company’s processes right away. They changed their utensils to stainless steels with smooth edges, plus they put up screens and air conditioning for the whole plantation resulting to an insect and pest-free area.

As for the food preparation, Ramon also improved their finished products by enhancing their recipe with the knowledge they gained from the PRP seminars. So for this year, Chanos Chanos will be showcasing its products prepared in olive oil, which is deemed safer and healthier compared to using canola or cooking oil.

The seminars have been quite an experience for Ramon. “I enjoyed it, I gained more knowledge and now our company is ready for IFEX,” he assures.

IFEX’s industry partners for PRP are the DTI Regional Operations Group (ROG), Packaging Research and Development Center of the Philippines-Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC), and San Miguel Packaging Products (SMPP)

IFEX 2007 is organized by CITEM, the export promotions arm of the Department of Trade and Industry. For more information on this food fair, please call CITEM, Agri-Marine Division at 831-1282, 831-2201 locals. 204 and 238, e-mail:
agrimarine@citem.com.ph or visit www.ifexphilippines.com.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Philippines to boost its software development services in Japan

With the aim to boost the country’s proven track record in Japan as an ideal outsourcing destination for software development, the Philippines will join the Software Development Expo and Conference (SODEC) 2007 on 16-18 May at the Tokyo Big Sight.

“Our 5th participation in SODEC is a follow through activity promoting our strong points in the field of software development and other IT services,” said Trade Assistant Secretary and CITEM Executive Director Felicitas Agoncillo-Reyes.

The Philippines’ participation in SODEC is organized by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), in close coordination with the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC), Tokyo, Japan.

The following companies are the Philippine participants in this year’s SODEC: Advanced World Systems, Inc. (embedded systems to business applications development services); Alliance Software (applications software development); Astra (Philippines), Inc. (web-based systems, image management and medical applications, music, client-server, including mobile software development); Ayala Systems Technology, Inc. (Global Bridge: Suite of Technology Services, which includes offshore development, testing and maintenance services); iCatchIT (website development rich applications, software and database development services); Imperium Technology, Inc. (network monitoring system, contact center solution, voice recording system, digital banking, and enterprise telephony solutions, as well as turnkey delivery system); Tsukiden Software Philippines, Inc. (wireless, telecommunications, and business applications solutions); and Winsource Solutions Philippines, Inc. (contact center solutions).

In conjunction with the individual software development capabilities of the exhibitors, the country will also promote the FLY HIGH: Philippine Software 2010 program, a breakaway growth strategy spearheaded by the Philippines Software Industry Association (PSIA). FLY HIGH will showcase the country’s growing domestic market for IT, increasing software exports, rising number of skilled software development professionals, infrastructure for industry growth, and step-up efforts for the protection of intellectual property.

With Japan’s rising labor cost and shortage in manpower, the country’s offshore outsourcing for software development is seen to grow an average of 5% to 8% annually, this makes Japan a huge market for foreign service providers like the Philippines.

After many years of bringing their software development needs to countries like China and India, Japanese companies are currently looking for other countries that can provide more cost efficient and value-added services.

Philippine software companies’ adaptability and ability to meet deadlines remains impressive among the Japanese companies. “The country’s software development services includes a whole package of satisfactory projects, on-time delivery, technical support, and confidentiality,” added Agoncillo-Reyes.

The country’s participation in last year’s SODEC resulted in 113 trade inquiries, and generated sales of 1.6 million dollars.

A multinational company based in Japan producing multi-function peripherals which combines the functions of printer, scanner, and facsimile in their product lines, signed a contract with Advanced World Systems, Inc. early this year. “Our proven track record in providing services to multi-function peripheral manufacturers, and capability to efficiently implement their requirements, are the reasons they decided to do business with us,” said Ramil Villanueva, AVP for Corporate Planning.

To know more about the Philippine participation in SODEC 2007, contact CITEM’s IT Services Division at (632) 8325044, e-mail
itservices@citem.com.ph, or log on to www.e-servicesphils.com/sodec2007.

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