Govt

Govt: Garments to grow 15% despite quota’s end By Niel V. Mugas

THE Philippine garment and textile industry expects to hit its initial target of 15 percent growth in 2005, despite the scheduled quota system phase, an official said Friday. Serafin Juliano, executive director of the Garments and Textile Export Board (GTEB), an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), told reporters over the weekend that the local garments sector is on the rebound and is expected to hit its original target of 15 percent growth in 2005. Juliano said the local garments sector would be shifting its focus on exporting highervalue products toward the American and European markets to compensate for the expected influx of foreign-made items, brought about by the removal of the quota system effective January next year. He said such strategy is better than trying to compete in terms of quantity, since the demand of high-end Filipino-made items are increasing. “We are moving up the dollar value rather than the quality. It’s one significant strategy,” Juliano said. The Philippine garment-manufacturing sector is servicing branded products such as Levi’s, Polo Ralph Lauren and Liz Clairborne. It is this same demand for locally manufactured branded products, meantime, which helped the garments sector bounce back to its old export capacity after reeling from the effects of a painful slump during the second quarter. Garments exports from January to mid-October reached $2.23 billion, almost the same with last year’s total of $2.23 billion. Exports to the United States alone amounted to $1.652 billion, which accounted for 73.72 of the total year-to-date earnings. The European Exporting Countries also contributed $273 million, or 12.19, to the total export earnings. The sector managed to overshadow a slowdown in the second quarter by posting higher export sales from August to mid-October. For the first two weeks of October alone, garments export rose by 27 percent to $107,319,795 from a low of $84.55 million at the same period in 2003.

Although the garments sector is expecting a parity performance during the final quarter of the year, Juliano admitted that the sector may get an extra boost as current trend indicates a possible 5 percent growth for the remaining months of 2004. The fourth quarter, he said, accounts for 27 percent to 28 percent of the total annual export earnings. Juliano is further optimistic that the Philippine garments industry would benefit on the removal of the quota system as it eliminates the cap on exports.

Mugas, Neil V. (October 25, 2004). Govt: Garments to grow 15% despite quota’s end. The Manila Times. Retrieved July 21, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/oct/25/yehey/business/20041025bus7.html