Filipino firms can export more to Europe as shipment of goods to Denmark has increased significantly.

Gry Saul, senior advisor on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and responsible business conduct (RBC) of Global Development and Sustainability at Confederation of Danish Industry (DI), said the Philippine’s actual exports to the European market have reached more than $9.1 billion but the potential is $15 billion.

Saul said this indicates that the Philippines has a huge amount of untapped potential that it can export to the European Union (EU).

“In order to capitalize on that, you really need to be able to live up to the requirements from the EU with regards to sustainability and responsible business conduct,” she said in a webinar.

Saul said Philippine products which have potential to export to Europe focus on electronics.

Data show that other products with realized potential are projectors, other office machines, and computer data storage units.

But the biggest potential for example is exporting bananas, fresh or dried, to the EU, she added.

“This is within agriculture where we also see that there has been a tendency to more issues within labor issues and human rights challenges. So of course if you want to go into that field, you need to be able to document that you are working with human rights and labor standards and that you are doing business in a responsible way,” Saul said.

Meanwhile, Saul cited recent data indicating the dramatic rise in Philippine exports to Denmark, which has grown over 146 percent in 2021.

“So we are actually doing business together, our two countries. And we really see the great demand within the electrical machinery and appliances, but also in the manufactured article. And the Danish exports to the Philippines are mostly within the meat and dairy production,” she added.