Garments exports seen doubling to $1.5B

PHILIPPINE exports of garments and other merchandise goods are expected to double to $1.5 billion over the next two years on the back of rising demand from two of the country’s biggest markets, namely Europe and the United States.

The renewed interest for local goods was buoyed largely by the Philippines’ inclusion in the generalized system of preferences (GSP) of the two key markets and the forthcoming economic integration in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region, the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) said Friday.

Robert Young, president of the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (Fobap), was quoted by Philexport as saying that they were now embarking on a social compliance awareness program to enable the local manufacturing industry to cash in on these growing export opportunities.

Young stressed the need to have social-compliant factories, or those that maintain lawful, safe and respected working conditions with no negative impact to the environment.

“We are really after the improvement of the laborers’ conditions plus the economic condition of the Philippines in terms of exports. This is also in connection with the generation of labor or workforce. If a factory is compliant, definitely there will be more orders. If there will be more orders, the factory will expand, [then] there will be more jobs for the Filipinos,” Young was quoted in the statement as saying.

“[Exporters] have to shape up or ship out because the competition will be very tough as soon as the Asean integration comes into effect. This will be a borderless trade and all the competition is just like limitless as far as price, quality and design are concerned,” he added.

The garments and hard goods sectors are among the industries that are expected to significantly benefit from the Philippines’ inclusion in the EU GSP+, which is a preferential trade scheme that allows more than 6,200 product lines manufactured or made from the Philippines to be exported to the EU at zero duties. The Philippines is currently the only Southeast Asian country accorded with the GSP+ status over the next 10 years up to 2024.

The US GSP, meanwhile, was renewed recently after US President Barack Obama signed the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 (HR 1295). This rendered the US GSP program, the biggest and oldest trade preference facility program of the economic giant, effective July 29 this year until Dec. 31, 2017.

The GSP program is aimed at promoting economic development by eliminating duties on about 5,000 types of products when imported from 122 designated beneficiary developing and least-developed countries and territories, including the Philippines.

Young added that they were also banking on the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement to further boost Philippine exports.

The Philippines has long expressed its interest in joining the TPP.