Holiday orders provide little cheer to RP exporters

MANILA, Philippines - Manufacturers of locally made Christmas gift items have felt the chill of the global economic downturn with export orders for jewelry, garments, home decor and parts of consumer electronics falling despite the holiday season, industry leaders said. Buyers abroad are reducing last-minute orders for garments, prefer smaller jewelry items, and have canceled orders for electronic components, while exporters of home decor have turned to domestic retail to cope, heads of industry groups said. Government data confirms this, with shipments of such items in the third quarter down versus the same period last year. Garment exports from July to September this year, for instance, fell by a fifth to $523,896, data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) show. Also, "replenishment" orders for fast-moving items usually received after the third quarter have fallen, Confederation of Garment Exporters of the Philippines Executive Director Teresita J. Agoncillo said. "Before, we get chase orders — additional orders of certain styles that are fast moving — in November. Now, there are trickles of chase orders only from higher-end brands," Ms. Agoncillo said in a telephone interview. She is confident, however, that the industry can weather the slowdown, saying "The industry has already suffered the worst in January 2005 when the US garments quota was abolished. " "Companies re-engineered their factories to improve efficiency and competitiveness. That, I’d like to think, is our little advantage." Jewelry orders for the holidays have fallen as well. "Jewelry exports have slipped ... It’s the smaller items [that are more in demand], not jewelry sets," Mia S. Faustmann, president of the Guild of Philippine Jewellers, Inc. (GPJI) said in a telephone interview. Orders for the Christmas season are usually made as early as July, Ms. Faustmann said. Jewelry exports from January to September this year plummeted by roughly 60% to $18.65 million versus $45.2 million the same period last year, data from the GPJI show. Shipments of electronic parts, the country’s main export, have also taken a hit as demand for consumer electronics weaken. "We are not seeing a Christmas spike in orders because of the total effect of the global financial crisis," Semiconductors and Electronic Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI) Chairman Arthur J. Young, Jr. said. "Consumer products like laptops, iPods, cellphones, and gadgets like LCD televisions and [digital] cameras — demand for all of those have softened. And [retailers] are dropping prices for electronics." SEIPI has said it expects to end the year with a decline of 5-8% in industry earnings. Shipments of electronics in the third quarter slipped 1% to $7.682 million, NSO data show. For his part, Ajun L. Valenzuela, executive director of the Philippine Chamber of Handicraft Industries, Inc., said exports of Christmas decor along with other homeware have experienced a downturn. Furniture, fixtures and basketwork exports fell by almost a fifth in the third quarter to $63,068, NSO data show. "Majority of the exporters have turned to domestic retailing in the fourth quarter," he said. Locally, shopping for Christmas decor and handicraft gifts came late this year, with sales picking up only in November.