If it were any indication of success before the 11th Sandugo regional Trade Expo 2016 issues the egress, in less than a day, the expo has recorded P1.3 million in cash sales.
The Department of Trade and Industry through trade and industry development senior specialist Blair Panong bared this during the weekly Kapihan sa PIA, Thursday.
At the radio forum which was held a day after the opening of the trade marketing event, Panong also confirmed reports that an exhibitor woodworker benefitting for the DTI Shared Service Facility (SSF) sold P100,000.00 of Cleopatra love seat, even before the expo formally opened its doors for the selling event.
This year too, the DTI, organizers of the events that afford government assisted cottage industries and small and medium enterprises the venue for them to expose their products and designs, reported that about 123 exhibitors have enlisted for the annual selling and products test-marketing spree in time for the Sandugo.
The exhibitors so far, is the largest that the DTI has gathered in its more than 30 years of fair from its humble beginnings as a provincial trade event, DTI regional Director Asteria Caberte said.
Returning this year with 24 more exhibitors as against last year’s, the Trade Expo spreads an innovative range of locally-made products crafted with the passion of local craftsmen that incorporates indigenous materials and designs.
This year, the regional crafts sales event spreads the products from regions 6, 7, 8, Negros Island Region and a large representation from Mindanao, Panong added.
Other than that, Bohol craftsmen availing of the DTI SSF, getting manufacturing equipment and facilities through community based Bottom Up Budgeting (BUB) through the government’s soft loan packages as well as technical assistance set up in booths and brought out their products.
The 6-day event, which runs until Monday, highlights diverse products that cater to the growing travel retail market such as Gifts, Decors, and Housewares (GDH), Furniture and Furnishings (FF), Fashion Accessories (FA), and Processed Food (PF).
At the same Kapihan sa PIA, Panong also took the Tubigon SSF and the crucial task of bringing their mixed media loom-wovens to wider markets though its international linkages.
But, over these developments, Governor Edgar Chatto stressed that unless the ripples of progress reach the poor and puts in food at the tables, then, the bannered development remains elusive.
The initial cash sales however, is generally only a small portion of the total booked sales as well as the products that have been under negotiations, based on the past experience, according to Panong.
The trade expo secretariat keeps track of the negotiations every exhibitor and buyers and the trade organizers monitor these sales, Panong said.
In the past years, Trade Expos net for Bohol over P45 million, the figures inclusive of the days when the booked sale could be delivered. Â (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)