Garments, hard goods exports seen to hit $1 billion

MANILA, Philippines — Manufacturers of local garments and hard goods are optimistic export sales will grow at a double-digit rate this  year as international trade activities pick up.

In a report to the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc., Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP) president Robert Young said export sales are likely to reach close to $1 billion in 2018.

The export sales target is equivalent to a growth of 10 percent year-on-year, Young said.

“Philippine production is now back in the foreign buyers’ radar due to the spillover of purchase orders from other Asian countries,” he said.

Young said the increase in demand from millennial population is expected to boost sales of garments, gifts, housewares and furniture products.

He considered the millennials as key market drivers, noting that they “dictate the ever-evolving no-rules trends, volatile and ambiguous market trends.”

“So turnover of products will be faster thus, bigger demands for new manufactured items make factories humming all year round,” Young said.

Young said major markets for the sector would continue to be the US, followed by Asian countries, Canada, Australia and the European Union.

FOBAP members have also tapped ASEAN markets, mostly in the components and parts supplies activities.

Young said FOBAP members are not exporting finished products yet amid higher cost of products manufactured wholly in the Philippines, especially in the general wear apparel.

“We are collaborating with some ASEAN economies in launching goods and products as a single market and we will jointly export to the advanced countries, which is the original framework of ASEAN,” he said.