High exhibition charges put off furniture makers

The supposed launching of CebuX 2009 held at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino last Thursday turned into a mere industry players’ dialogue as furniture manufacturers appealed for reasonable exhibition charges.

This as the organizer, Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation (CFIF), announced a five percent increase on space rental charges on next year’s Cebu International Furniture & Furnishings Exhibition (CebuX).

Despite the pleading of the furniture manufacturers, CFIF is bent on pursuing the rental increase in order to sustain premium positioning of the show to the international market.

Manufacturers feared that if CebuX will have shrinkage in participation, foreign buyers will be discouraged to visit the show, thus affecting their revenue and exposure expectations.

“The more exhibitors the more buyers, we have to bring back the [international] buyers that we’ve lost. Why cant you maximize the entire rental space and offer it to companies on discounted rates, to make the show fuller and bigger, and impress our buyers,” said Mona Padilla, of Arte Cebuano furniture.

At least 30 percent of the total rented space on this year’s CebuX held last March remained unsold, Padilla said the empty spaces during the show did not look good for buyers, magnifying the declining interest of furniture makers to participate the show.

On the other hand, Charles Streegan, CFIF vice president maintained that whether the show will run on 50 percent occupancy rate, it has to see to it that participating companies are serious in the business, and have capacity to serve the (big) buyers.

He said CFIF highly considers the quality, rather than quantity of the show. After all, Cebu is known as the maker of premium and high-end furniture and home furnishing products.

Chaired by Allan Murillo, CebuX 2009 has allocated a budget of P20 million for the CebuX 2009, 61 percent of which will be spent for national and international promotions.

“Companies who can’t adjust to realities will fall. It is very difficult, we are trying to minimize the cost, but also serious in providing premium service. We are all affected by the slowdown, you have to understand that we need to make money in the show for the foundation,” Streegan stressed.

Clayton Tugonon of Classical Geometry, suggested that while everybody is hit by the market slowdown, coupled with external and internal economic difficulties, the industry will have to formulate a “win-win” situation to benefit manufacturers, as well as sustainability of the foundation.

Furniture manufacturers are bent on asking the shows organizer-CFIF to sacrifice temporarily the exhibition’s revenues, while everybody is hurting.

Aside from high cost of operational expenses in preparing and organizing the show, Streegan said CebuX is also affected by the “donor fatigue” condition. Unlike in the past that the show had been largely subsidized by sponsors and donors, this time a number of sponsors has declined significantly because of the tough times.