ALTHOUGH the growth of the local furniture exporting industry has plateaued, the industry remains to be one of


the country’s top export producers, according to an official of the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation (CFIF).

CFIF president Michael Basubas said the entry of new players, particularly in Metro Manila, contributed significantly to the country’s export.

“We are an industry with the reputation of refusing to die despite high labor and material costs” Basubas told Sun.Star Cebu.

Furniture ranked fifth, accounting for 3.48 percent, in Central Visayas’ top exports during the first half of the year, according to the data from the Department of Trade and Industry 7 information network center.

The US, Europe and the Middle East are the top markets of Philippine furniture, Basubas said.

He added that the industry has not encountered any problem in the export of locally produced furniture since the sector itself complied with the standards set by the importing countries.

China and Vietnam remain to be the sector’s major competitors because of their cheaper costs for labor and raw materials.

“We can’t compete with them in terms of volume because China, for example, is able to export materials in ship loads, unlike the Philippines, where we only use container loads and that spells a 20 percent difference,” Basubas said.

Support

He added that the closure of several local companies was due to the increasing cost of production, the rising power and labor costs, the dwindling supply of industrial designers and the lack of “aggressive” support from the government.

To address these challenges, he said “merging” is now a trend among industry players to “generate higher income.”

Basubas revealed that the industry will employ new strategies that will encourage manufacturers to produce globally competitive products.

Seeing the potential for designer-type furniture, CFIF will be tapping the expert furniture designers from Europe to train local manufacturers.

“We have the advantage for these types of furniture because we have much better craftsmanship compared with other countries,” Basubas said.

He reported that with the resurgence of the rattan-made furniture, the coun-try’s local produce continues to attract the global market because of its “new and improved look.”

Today’s rattan-made furniture is a combination of indigenous raw materials made of abaca, banana barks, seashells and coco shells, among others.

“In order for the furniture industry to stay alive, we need to be innovative in our designs to suite the taste of our foreign and domestic markets,” Basubas said.

CFIF has 174 members from all over the province. (MMM)