PH Trade Group To Pitch Garments Exports To Japanese Firms

A trade group of local garment and hard goods exporters would promote Philippine-made products to Japanese buyers during the official visit of President Marcos Jr. to Japan next week, aiming to recapture a market worth $250 million a year.

Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (Fobap) president Robert Young said he would be joining the Philippine leader’s trade delegation in Tokyo, where he will make a pitch to Japanese firms.

“Our biggest buyer then was Yasuda, [which is] now buying from Thailand, India, Vietnam, and China,” he said. The Yasuda Co Ltd distributes wholesale men’s and boys’ apparel and furnishings.

Young said he would take on business-to-business aspects in the garments, apparel, and furniture sectors during the pitch.

Previously, the Philippines used to ship at least one 40-foot container of garments and hard goods to Japan every week for the past 10 years, equating to as much as $250 million a year, but it has declined as other countries became more competitive and pulled purchase orders away from the Philippines.

“This time we will focus on higher-end products, which other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) economies are not keen to accept [as they] prefer basic items with big volume,” Young said.

Young added that high local electricity costs slowed the garments shipments compared to other Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia.

According to Young, this is restricting the competitiveness of Philippine-made products since it makes operations and production of goods more expensive locally compared to other countries.

Source: Inquirer.net