CEBU, Philippines - While orders, especially from United States, are slowly starting to recover, exporters are encouraged to make the production of goods at a faster rate since lead time for orders are shorter, unlike before.
PhilExport-Cebu chairman Allan Suarez made this call, while sensing the rebound of export products demand specifically from the United States, which is the largest export market for the Philippines, especially Cebu’s furniture exports.
“Local export furniture makers should be able to produce goods at a faster rate since lead time for orders are shorter compared before with buyers now keeping their inventories and volume orders low,” said Suarez.
For his part, Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation Inc. (CFIF) executive director Joseph Martin Borromeo said that the industry is now beginning to feel the improving conditions in the US housing industry as observed by more order inquiries from US-based clients.
“Orders for furniture pieces and home furnishings from Cebu are slowly coming in as new home sales in the US grew last July and many others are beginning to renovate their homes,” he related.
Borromeo said that general sentiment of the industry is “bullish” while furniture inventory of American retailers are about to be consumed and buyers are beginning to buy new stocks.
At present, Borromeo said that exact volumes of orders are still difficult to determine, but what is reassuring is that there has been experiencing “significant demand” for Cebu’s export products, particularly home furnishing items, fashion accessories and furniture pieces.
Department of Trade and Industry undersecretary Thomas Aquino echoed the industry players’ positive outlook on the export sector, especially in the home furnishing, saying the recession in the US has “bottomed out”.
But, Aquino lauded Cebu’s resiliency in fighting the ugly effects of the US recession to the export sector.
“Despite the crisis, Cebu exporters have grown to be even more innovative in their designs (and) we are excited to see how Cebu’s export industry will perform next year especially with the recovery of the US market,” he said.
DTI recently conducted an Exporters’ Exposition in Cebu to help exporters dispose their inventories in preparation to accommodation new orders from the US market.
Borromeo particularly lauded efforts of Government, particularly DTI’s, in setting up the Exporter’ Expo which aims to help exporters dispose of their existing inventory by selling the goods to the local market.
In the last few months, the Cebu export industry, primarily the home furnishing and fashion accessories sectors are growing at a rate of 10 percent to 15 percent in terms of order volumes.
PhilExport-Cebu on the other hand, is conducting several programs and activities to help exporters aptly prepared for the rebound phenomenon.
Source: The Freeman Cebu
