DTI to help local wellness sector access global market

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry Cebu Provincial Office (DTI-CPO) is going to reach out to local beauty and wellness manufacturers to help them access the US$3 trillion global market in beauty and wellness sector.

DTI-CPO director Nelia F. Navarro said her office is now working on enlisting the local manufacturers of beauty and wellness products, such as beauty soaps, essential oils and food supplements, among others.

“We find difficulties in gathering data and information on the local manufacturers in the beauty and wellness sector, but we are trying to reach out to them,” said Navarro.

Navarro said that there is a big potential for local beauty and wellness makers in Cebu to hit the global market. In fact, she mentioned the success of GT Cosmetics Manufacturing in gaining popularity in the global market with even less promotion and advertising.

She said some products of GT Cosmetics were even made as wedding give-aways in a recent wedding ceremony of British and Filipino couple held in Cebu.

DTI-CPO will also coordinate with the Department of Tourism (DOT) in incorporating these locally made beauty and wellness products to be made available to tourism and souvenir stops as a jump start strategy to hit the global market.

Earlier, Rashmi Totentino-Singh, chairperson of the Hospitality and Wellness Industries Furnishers and Service Providers Association Inc., urged key players in the hospitality and wellness industries to work closely with the government to capture business opportunities offered by the global wellness industry which is seen to hit US$3 trillion by 2015.

In a report, Singh said there has to be a close cooperation among government agencies and the private sector in order to enter the global arena “because the other countries, like Japan and Thailand, are already very developed.”

Singh said individual companies cannot launch their products into the global markets themselves, citing the prior need for the Philippines to have strong presence there.

Local companies, especially the micro and small ones, also have no capacity to supply in huge volumes to the local and foreign markets, he said.

Singh mentioned that while the global prospect is promising, the Philippines took a little stride towards production, development and standardization, except for Virgin Coconut Oil products.

Government support, Singh said, is very important. He said access to the potential market needs to be facilitated by the government itself.

On the other hand, Navarro said while DTI has existing programs to help the micro, small and medium enterprises, manufacturers should strive to make effort in connecting with the government in order to easily connect the link between industry players and the government.

“We are having difficulties in identifying the potential or the existing beauty and wellness product manufacturers in Cebu.  We want to include them in the loop under the beauty, health and wellness sector,” said Navarro.

According to Singh, the identified products with huge export potential, including aromatherapy products, massage tables, essential oil, supplements and personal care products which the hotels can use such as shampoo, conditioner and hand and body cream.  Biggest export markets of these products are the United States, the entire Europe and even Asian countries like Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

Singh added that herbal preparations, be it food or non-food, has become a global trend that people want to use. “They like herbal preparations, they like to eat healthy, they like to put healthy things on their skin and so on,” Singh said.

Navarro added that DTI-CPO is also strengthening its data base gathering in identifying the organic products of beauty and wellness makers as these kinds of products are in demand not only in the local market but across the world.

“We are developing support programs in this sector,” Navarro said, adding that DTI and DOT will have a planning strategy session in a few days to identify opportunities linking the local manufacturers with the tourism players to initially introduce local products to the global market. /JMD (FREEMAN)