MANILA – Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from China’s Yiwu Market, the world’s largest wholesale market, is exploring opportunities in the Philippines.
In a statement Monday, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said the agency received a delegation from Zhejiang province last March 7.
PEZA officer-in-charge Tereso Panga invited the SMEs from Yiwu to locate their hubs in economic zones in the Philippines.
“The economic cooperation with Yiwu will surely increase investment and trade for the country as we attract Yiwu’s small commodity manufacturers to set up their production facilities ideally in the ecozones,” Panga said.
He said the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives (CREATE) law has allowed PEZA to register SMEs locating inside ecozones to cater to the domestic market.
“These ecozone manufactured products can be readily made available to the domestic market, which are expected to be cheaper as compared to imported products and thus, benefiting the Filipino consumers,” he added.
Yiwu Market, also known as Yiwu China Commodities City or Yiwu International Trade City, is a complex with 75,000 stores and small commodity producers of 2.1 million items.
“PEZA hopes to attract more Chinese investors to add to its current 160 Chinese RBEs that generated by far a total of PHP25.446 billion investments, USD1.367 billion exports, and 15,724 direct jobs,” Panga added.
Aside from the SMEs and manufacturers, the delegation is also composed of representatives from the Zhejiang Department of Commerce, Yiwu Municipal People's government, Bank of China, Export-Import Bank of China and China-Philippines Chambers of Commerce. (PNA)
