Local seafood exporter sees rebound this year

CEBU, Philippines - A Cebu-based exporter of food products is confident that the country’s food manufacturing and exporting industry will experience a rebound this year along with the economic recovery of the international market.

According to Nancy Tan, proprietor of Akai Foods Inc., the company has received more orders from its clients in Japan and the United States this month compared to the same month last year. May is the peak month for international clients to place food orders.  

“We also experienced a setback last year due to the economic crisis of our major markets—Japan and the US. But we are doing better this year,” she told The Freeman in an interview.

Akai exports unprocessed and processed frozen seafood products such as abalone, tuskfish, parrot fish and squid balls. The company started its seafood business in 1986.

To ensure a steady supply, the company has invested on some fishing boats at islands where supplies are most abundant. It has hundreds of fishermen under its operation.

Aside from the softening of the export market, one of the challenges the food exporting industry is currently facing is the strict health and safety requirements for food products of countries in the US and Europe.

Tan said the US and countries in Europe require food imports to be Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)-certified. HACCP is a management system in which food safety is addressed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product.

“We are slowly coping with this challenge. Slowly, we adhere to the program. As for Akai, we are already HACCP-compliant but not yet HACCP-certified,” she said.

HACCP-certificates are issued by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and other private certification organizations such as the TUV Rheinland Group.