DTI pegs Sandugo Trade
Expo sales goal at P15M

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol July 7 (PIA) –Getting a total of P15 million in actual and booked sales could be something the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) sees as a challenge especially with buyers and the international market recouping losses during the pandemic, but authorities are optimistic that the Sandugo Trade Expo this year could reestablish Bohol products in its niche in the global products showcase.

Picking up the highly participated products showcase that brings to the mainstream handcrafted creative industry that was sidelined by the pandemic, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) takes over its favorite spot anew at the Island City Mall’s Activity Center to bring out yet again local products for the Sandugo Trade Expo 2023.

Set this July 19-23, the annual products expo which was sidelined in 2020 and 2021 for the Mugnang Bol-anon hybrid showcase, now brings out the best of the island and the regions’ in the 105 booths that carry handcrafted wearables and jewelries, home decors, fixtures and wares, furniture, bags, baskets raffia products, handwoven items and processed food, according to trade promotions officer Rey Anthony Regis.

Speaking at the weekly Kapihan sa PIA, DTI’s Regis said the two years afforded Boholano producers the opportunity to upgrade their products and present them anew to the reopening global market suppliers and buyers.

Now becoming a regular venue for showcasing new local products as a result of the DTI product development seminars and training, the Sandugo Trade Expo 2023 formally reestablishes whatever was broken in the producers and buyers link to resume bringing the best of Bohol products to the global fair.

Upgrading and innovating from the basic raw material flea market during the dawning years of the Sandugo trade fair, the past year’s products have seen fusion of raw materials with fibers, and even the upcycled trash, as handicraft manufacturers adopt to the steam-rolling environmental consciousness, Regis shared.

Now with 40 Boholano exhibitors and the return of regional exhibitors, we are readying for about 150 exhibitors bringing in their products which can also provide local manufacturers ideas on embellishing the local products, he added.

For the local producers, those participating the Trade Expo are those whose products have market potential, the manufacturers have financial capability, shows good product quality and is a registered business with local and Bureau of internal Revenue permits to issue sales receipts, and food processor exhibitors must have obtained a License to Operate for their food processing business to ascertain product standards.

And with the pandemic break, DTI pegs the sales targets this year at P15million for booked and actual sales in the 5 days of expo.

In the previous year’s expos, manufacturers still receive bookings and sales past the exhibit days, something that the DTI could not monitor anymore.

But for them, any sales that the exhibitor seals after the expo would be proof of a successful trade expo, benefitting the micro, small and medium enterprises and in turn, moving the cogs of the economy in the rural areas. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

RECLAIMING THE NICHE MARKET. Bohol handmade products would be back again to reclaim the global market as the DTI brings back the Sandugo Trade Expo and regional products showcase this July 19-23 at the Island City Mall in Tagbilaran. (PIAbohol)