Philippine National Trade Fair 2006 Visit

Posted by Jozzua on Mar 16, 2006 in Uncategorized | 12 comments

I am amazed by Filipino creativity and Philippine entrepreneurship. On a visit to the Philippine National Trade fair, I saw the different Philippine-made products from the various regions. There where handicrafts, hand-woven bags, hand-crafted paper and even Philippine-made food items. It’s a haven for traders/exporters

I saw wine made from a local fruit called a bignay. Bignay are small round or ovoid-shaped fruits. They are clumped together like grapes and are colorful because berries ripen unevenly. Some are pale yellowish-green, white, bright-red and/or nearly black. The skin is thin and tough but yields an abundance of bright-red juice which leaves a purple stain on fabrics. A bignay fruit can be very acid, much like cranberries, when unripe but become slightly sweet, when fully ripe. Some tasters detect a bitter principle or "unpleasant aftertaste" which is unnoticeable to others.

The wine from bignay reflects the fruit. It was rather sweet and at 11% proof, was quite strong compared to other wines. I bought a bottle for P160. This was made from the mountain province, up in northern Luzon, Philippines. A friend tells me there are quite a number of local wines up there. This particular wine brand was called Lang-ay.

I bought an abaca-made wine bag for it. Abaca is actually a species of banana plant grown almost exclusively in the Philippines. , The fiber of this plant is processed for its fiber, called Manila hemp, extracted from the leaves and stems. This fiber is used for making twines and ropes.

The abaca product I bought was made from Malaybalay. It has an interesting story behind it. Apparently, Tita Perla, the Philippine Entrepreneur behind Malaybalay Crafts, was approached by some mountain folk who needed money. They asked if she?d be willing to buy the abaca fibers that they brought down from the hills. Seeing that the folks were really rather desperate for money, she gave in. She bought the abaca without really thinking of what she was going to do with it.

Later, ?by the grace of God? she says, she came upon the idea to just weave the abaca into bags and other items. She now has staffs who work on the bags. She even showed me how the bags were made. The abaca fibers were knotted, tied up, piece by piece, until a big flat abaca roll is made. It was truly a labor of love.

While walking around SM Megatrade hall 1, I stumbled upon some nice looking religious works from a shop called wood inspirations. Although most of their products were wood-based, there were some other interesting items. I particularly noticed the finely crafted religious wood carvings. Ms. Bles Pascual, the proprietor, noticed I was interested and informed me that what I was looking at was not actually made of wood. It was made of Lahar. I quickly thought, ?Lahar? The volcano ash??

Lahar is actually a mixture of rock debris and water from the Pinatubo volcano. Back in 1991, Pinatubo volcano, located in central Luzon, Philippines, exploded and rained ash upon the area. The explosion is well documented. For a long time, Lahar was a troublesome aftermath of that explosion. Roads were blocked, villages were submerged in it, and people were troubled by lahar quicksand. Apparently some Philippine Entrepreneurs have found some commercial value to the Lahar. Wood Inspirations have molded the lahar to create some nice works of art.

Then there was Katakus. Katakus is a non-government agency who provided education and support for farmer?s wives. One of their outputs was handcrafted paper. The cards looked nice and bought a couple. The wholesale price of the cards was P10. On retail, however, it was priced at P35. I intend to mail it abroad to some friends. I?ll tell them, hey check this out, the paper is locally made!

The support of DTI had helped these entrepreneurs to reach beyond the local market. The agency helped in brand development, research with DOST on shelf-life of food items, and supplier-buyer matching. Talking with the entrepreneurs, they truly appreciate what DTI has done.

For exporters and buyers out there, you might want to explore international trading with the items I mentioned. People say that these are rather popular in Europe. If you’d like to find out more about the items I discussed, contact:

WoodInspirations
Bles G. Pascual
+639155340252

Mt. Province Wine Processors Association, Inc
Maureen K. Lumabas
+639287230850