Exporters expect positive prospects with new admin

CEBU, Philippines - Now that the Gift, Decors and Houseware export sector is seeing good prospects for recovery, players are hopeful that the entry of the new administration in the country will further push the industry's sustained business rebound.

Venus Genson, president  of Gift, Decors and Houseware (GDH-Cebu), said that  industry players are optimistic that the upcoming administration of presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte will be mindful of the fate of the struggling small and medium exporters, majority of whom are in the GDH sector.

Genson draws her confidence on expecting sincere help from the new government, as part of Duterte's eight point economic agenda, which is to provide support services to micro, small and medium entrepreneurs, together with his promises to  ensure attractiveness of the Philippines to foreign investors, and enhancing competitiveness in doing business in the country and provide support services to small farmers to increase productivity and improve market access.

Genson, who also owns export firm Art N Nature Manufacturing Corporation, reiterated the primary need of GDH players, which is access to finance.

According to Genson, access to finance remains to be a critical factor for small raw materials suppliers to grow.

Although, interventions are already in place, what the micro and small exporters need is financial muscle in order to further strengthen their financing plans, competitiveness, and expansions.

The good news now, she said is that GDH players are experiencing improved export business compared to previous years.

"We are a lot better now, doing good. We are receiving fresh new orders from buyers abroad," she said attributing the recovering economic postures of major markets like the United States.

Likewise, she said the Philippine government had also been intervening to save the sector's viability in the backdrop of weak global demand.

The ongoing collaboration between the academe, private sector and the government is a big help to achieve business health and growth, she said.

She mentioned a concrete example of collaboration mechanism that keeps the sector alive, this is the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the University of the Philippines Institute for Small-Scale Industries (UP-ISSI) partnership that was sealed last year to create strategic roadmap for the industry's players.

"We are happy that our government has started moving from being too concentrated in services export to manufacturing. We are now really creating an industry out of it unlike in the past that it is more cottage industries," she added.

In 2013, the holiday décor sector recorded a 75 increase in revenue to $46 million from $26 million. Houseware sector revenue logged a total of $242 million, a 3.90 percent drop from $249 million it earned in 2012.

Genson reiterated the call to the next administration to heed the sector's voice, stressing that access to market, enabling financing environment and technology remains to be the challenges among the small raw material players in the sector to prosper.

After-all majority if not all of its members are giving employment and subcontracting businesses to farming communities around the country. (FREEMAN)