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THE
ailing garments industry, now facing tougher times with
the economic slowdown in the US, its main market, has
asked the government to put up a unit similar to the
defunct Garments and Textile Export Board (GTEB) that
will help in the marketing efforts abroad and in the
gathering of industry data globally.
Ma.
Teresita Jocson-Agoncillo, executive director of the
Confederation of Garment Exporters of the
Philippines
(Congep), said they just need a small team that will
probably be organized by the Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI) that will take care of the concerns of
the garments makers.
“Even if
it is just composed of 10 persons as long it is
concentrated to us. Right now we have to talk to a lot
of offices because the former functions of the GTEB were
devolved to the other DTI units,” she said.
Before
2006, when the industry was working on quota allocations
given by the US for its shipments, the GTEB was there to
take care of the quota distributions among the
companies, promotions, monitoring and data gathering.
“The
quota disappeared, but we still need the three other
functions,” Agoncillo said.
For
instance, Agoncillo said the group is now having
difficulty gathering data, which are vital in their
planning activities, including the identification of
global trends.
Also,
the industry no longer has a body that will help
identify the bad eggs that are giving it a bad name, she
said.
And
while the industry has a road map, Agoncillo said there
is no agency that is dedicated exclusively in helping
them implement the policies.
Last
year the industry suffered a 13-percent drop in exports
to only $2.2 billion, from $2.6 billion in 2006.
The
seven large companies that make up the Congep board
represent 25 percent of the country’s shipment.
Lawrence
de los Santos, Congep president, said although the whole
industry went on a negative exports last year, the group
still posted about 12-percent increase.
This
year, however, de los Santos said the best that they are
hoping for is a flat growth, with the January data from
the Bureau of Customs already showing a 4-percent
decline because of the developing recession in the US,
where 70 percent to 75 percent of their shipments go.
“We
already saw the orders for up to August and it would be
very difficult. We are now just relying on the spring
orders for the last quarter of the year to provide the
growth,” he said.
The
Americans at this time are now buying in mere bits and
pieces, which causes uncertainty for the industry, he
said.
De los
Santos said the creation of a similar unit to the GTEB
does not require a law or an executive order from
Malacañang. “A department order will do,” he said. |
