A large majority of European companies in the Philippines have prioritized the resumption and successful conclusion of the EU-Philippines free trade agreement talks, a survey by the European  Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) showed.

Based on the survey,  80 percent of the respondents see the importance of the resumption of the EU-PH FTA talks, while 81 percent of the respondents holds the conclusion of the EU-PH FTA talks of significant importance for their respective company and business strategies. The ECCP released Thursday, July 6, the FTA survey they conducted during the first half of 2023 with  close to 200 respondents.

“This strong sense of urgency is shared by the European-Philippine business community as evident in the results of the recently conducted ECCP FTA survey during the first half of 2023,” the ECCP said citing that the figures only reveal the sentiments of the European Philippine business community towards the timely and successful conclusion of the EUPH FTA.

“This shows a strong appetite for the recommencement and conclusion of EU-PH FTA talks. The ECCP continues to advocate for the timely conclusion of the said FTA deal,” the ECCP statement added.

If concluded, the survey said that about 83 percent of the respondents anticipates heavy utilization of the EU-PH trade deal.
About 42 percent of the respondents expect to use the deal for trade in goods while 23 percent will use it for trade in goods and services, and 26 percent will use it for trade in services. About nine percent were unsure of how they shall use the deal when in effect.

Sourcing location as well as priority-end markets were identified as the key factors for the development of an FTA optimization strategy of the respondents’ respective firms.

Respondents identified FTA chapters as of utmost relevance as trade in goods, customs and trade facilitation, trade in services, investments, as well as trade and sustainable development (TSD).

EU businessmen also identified major bottlenecks in trade are onerous customs and administrative procedures, charges on imports, license requirements, red tape, among others.

Meantime, the ECCP said the proposal of the European Commission to extend the EU GSP+ for four years would greatly benefit the Philippines.

The ECCP cited the Philippines  77 percent utilization rate, translating to EUR 2.93 billion euros worth of Philippine products were exported to the EU using GSP+ last year based on the data of the Philippines Department of Trade and Industry.

Among the top exports to the EU include crude coconut oil, tuna, pineapple, other agriculture products, among others.