FURNITURE exporters in Cebu project the demand for their products in the United States will pick up again once the election period is over in November this year.

Eric Casas, president of the Cebu Furniture Industry Foundation (CFIF), told the BusinessMirror that while furniture exporters do not see the weakening dollar to hold up, the volume of sales might be able to cover for the slack.

“We’re looking at six months after the election. With a new government settled, we are hoping our sales to push up,” he said. “We have always believed that the affluent market —Cebu’s market—is not affected by the economic slowdown.”

Casas said the industry is hoping the sales volume would be enough to cover for the strengthening peso, which has greatly affected exporting industries.

“We never expect the dollar to recover against the peso. As long as there are OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] we do not see the peso weakening,” Casas said.

While waiting for the US market—which gets the bulk of Cebu’s products—to pick up, Casas said the industry is dedicated at penetrating the European and Middle Eastern markets.

Casas was also thankful that government support has already started to trickle for the beleaguered industry. He said the long-awaited Economic Development Fund will soon be released to exporters through the CFIF.

“We have received a lot of support from the government in the recent days. A lot of government promises of the help to the export sector has already been made,” Casas said.

CFIF is planning to use the government assistance to beef up its marketing campaign abroad as well as develop more design talents, which has been the backbone of Cebu furniture products.

Casas said the industry is pushing for the establishment of more privately owned design studios, whose jobs are mainly to do designs for the manufacturers in order to raise the bar for creative works in the industry.

“We need innovative designs and  new materials if we are to penetrate the European markets because they have an entirely different taste than the American market which we are used to,” Casas said.

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FURNITURE exporters in Cebu project the demand for their products in the United States will pick up again once the election period is over in November this year.

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