THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7 and the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) are looking for a strategic location in Cebu for the planned permanent display center of Cebu furniture and house ware.
DTI 7 Director Asteria Caberte said the ideal spot for the center—a permanent display showroom—should be along the road going to the airport since its target market would include tourists.
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She said P15 million will be allotted for the display showroom that will make Cebuano furniture exports easily and immediately available to domestic and international buyers.
To house a wide array of products and services, the showroom’s ideal area size should be about 1,000 square meters, she said. However, she admitted that while the budget is obligated for 2009, the center may not be completed this year.
In an earlier interview, PITC president Jorge Mendoza Judan said the DTI and PITC want to create a product depot for export companies, as well as service providers within the small and medium enterprise (SME) category in Cebu after the launching of a similar trade house in Manila this month.
This permanent display showroom and trade house, he said, will save manufacturers of furniture, house ware, and house decors from incurring freight and warehousing costs for orders going to foreign markets, like Russia, since the PITC will assist them in the logistics.
Caberte stressed that the permanent display center will not only be limited to Russians but also to other tourists and to the domestic market.
She said one of the export-related sectors will manage the center. She pointed out that management is the core competence of the private sector.
The products that will be displayed at the center, she said, will depend on the business judgment of the export companies.
Source: The Sunstar Daily Cebu
