China, Good Market For Resource-Rich Zamboanga Peninsula

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Ulysses E. Israel / 21 Aug) Zamboanga City, strategically located and being the gateway to BIMP-EAGA region, could very well play a vital role in enhancing Zamboanga Peninsula's competitive advantage and directly benefit from the opportunities in China market.

This was the assessment of Archimedes C. Gomez, trade specialist of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), who spoke before local businessmen during a seminar on China market opportunities and challenges, held recently here.

BIMP-EAGA stands for Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines-East Asean Growth Area. It is Asia's largest regional grouping, spanning territories of four ASEAN countries. Some point out that it may also be the fastest growing, in light of its achievements in only four years.

EAGA comprises the entire sultanate of Brunei Darussalam; 10 provinces in the Indonesian islands of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Irian Jaya; Sabah, Sarawak, and Labuan in Malaysia; and Mindanao and Palawan in the Philippines. Its land area of roughly 1.54 million square kilometers is home to about 45.6 million people (1996).

Zamboanga Peninsula, which is compose of Zamboanga City and the provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga del Norte are expected to benefit from its rich resources as it sets its goals on exporting to the China market.

Gomez said the region could enhance and develop product lines that are greatly in demand in the People's Republic of China. Identified products for possible exports to China are fresh fruits like fresh mango, cavendish banana, durian and fresh coconut; marine products like live grouper, scallop and lobster; food and beverage - dried mango, banana chips, jams, jellies, and marmalades and prepare or preserved fruits, and mango juice.

The region could also export resource-based products like natural rubber, abaca, coco geo-textile, carrageenan, and coco coir; chemicals such as oleo chemicals, coconut-based alkyd resin which are increasing in demand for chemical products used in soap making and paint manufacturing.

The increasing number of Chinese students who want to learn English and study medical courses abroad would give opportunities for the education sector.

China, he said, has limited arable land which accounts for 10 percent of the country's total land area. Desertification is a problem in China's western front and desert claims about 66,000 hectares of China's land area every year. As of 1999, it was reported that 22.9 percent or 220 m of China's 960 m hectares land area is affected by desertification.

China accounted for 9.88 percent of the country's total exports in 2005.In 2004, the total value of exports of Region 9 to China was US$6.902 million; it rose to US$10.209 million in 2005.