The various government trade fairs held in the first semester this year have generated about $205 million in export revenues including $101 million worth of e-services contracts, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Mission (CITEM) reported.

Trade and Industry Secretary Peter B. Favila, who is also chairman of CITEM, said a total of 1,287 small and medium enterprises were given marketing assistance for their participation in the different trade shows here and abroad resulting in the estimated $205-million export revenues generated by these companies.

"Amidst crisis the government is still working hard in promoting the Filipino expertise to the world. We continue to push for constant innovation of new quality products and the creative industry to explore new niche areas other than traditional products and services," Favila said.

The agency also gathered 7,402 trade inquiries, 70 percent of the total target for the year.

CITEM participated in six international trade fairs overseas and organized four locally held trade fairs that cater to a wide range of sectors such as furniture, fashion, arts and crafts, food, IT and IT-enabled services and creative industry among others. These trade promotions activities were anchored in the Philippine Export Development Plan that outlines strategies to develop and promote the country's revenue streams.

The biggest haul came from the recent e-Services Philippines, an annual exhibit for IT and IT enabled services, that generated an estimated $101 million worth of contracts.

CITEM said that the recently-held e-Services Philippines was able to attract 1,464 visitors. Some of the key highlights of the show were trends in procurement outsourcing and creative e-services as well as ICT innovation under the e-Services Awards banner.

"We saw the importance of strengthening our engagements and trade promotions activities with our neighboring countries as well as boosting domestic demand for our exportable products," said Favila.

"For the first semester, it is interesting to see a number of companies who managed to reinvent and innovate their products despite the downturn."

Aside from the e-Services, CITEM also cited the food sector as among the busy industries since the onset of 2009.

SMEs from the food sector attended three major food fairs abroad and the International Food Exhibition (IFEX) Philippines a premier sourcing hub of tasty, healthy, unique and quality Filipino food also organized by CITEM.

A total of 397 companies participated in IFEX and registered 2,084 foreign and local visitors.

Trendy food ideas were featured in IFEX Philippines including microwaveable bangus preparations (Anjo Farms, Inc.), fruit jams (Sun-Q Technical Trading), and vacuum-packed beef and pork jerky (Padla’s Homemade Food Products).