Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (Fobap) is hopeful that the domestic garments, textile, and apparel industry will reach $1.5 B in fiscal year 21-22. The Philippines has already received bulk orders from countries that Vietnam cannot serve, China, India, and Bangladesh, due to “minimum order quantity requirement.” Despite persisting global challenges worsened by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
This year, the country’s garment and textile exports may expand by almost half to $1.5 billion as the industry is keen on filling supply gaps by other producers.
Robert Young, Fobap President, said, “We will hit it [target] easily because we have all the orders right now on hand, who also serves as the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) trustee for textile, yarn, and fabric sector. We can now project that the $1.5 billion [exports volume] for 2022 year-end is just a walk in the park. We have a track record to boast that we were number two in the whole of Asia and exportation of garments and apparel. Therefore, we are still being considered as an alternative for the garment production of these foreign buyers.”
Young explained that bulk or about 80% of the country’s textile and garment exports are shipped to the United States, while 20% to the European Union, Australia, Canada, and Asean countries. He further said that there should also be a grant on the tax deduction for export because this will somehow encourage the foreign investors to come in.
The CREATE [Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises] law is there, but it is not enough. We have to make an added feature attracting these foreign investors. In 2021, the gross value added generated from textile manufacturing in the Philippines amounted to around 41.
04 billion Philippine pesos. This reflects a significant incline from the previous year’s value-added of about 31 billion Philippine pesos. Thus, the Philippines’ textile sector proves a way forward for a successful future.
