Promising outlook seen for holiday décor sector

MANILA, Philippines - The outlook for the country’s holiday décor industry is promising for 2012 as export demand starts recovering this year.

This optimism was expressed by Romeo P. Balderrama Jr., president of Christmas Decor Producers and Exporters Association of the Philippines (CDPEAP), following the release of revenue results of Manila FAME’s October exhibition.

“Holiday décor was the highest selling (sector during the trade show). We are happy. Bulk of these was booked orders and sales under negotiation. These booked orders are for next year (delivery),” he bared.

Balderrama is also confident that industry players will get more foreign buyers next year on the back of the expected recovery of the global economy. 

“Our target is the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries. But we will continue selling in the United States because in the last Manila FAME show, it remained the biggest buyer of Philippine exports even as it is experiencing financial difficulties,” he stressed.

For 2011, holiday decor companies see positive growth after registering their lowest sales last year.

However, Balderrama stressed that the projected revenues are not that high compared to previous years’ performance.

“We are able to sell to high-end buyers but volume requirements are low. These are not the same with mass-produced items with high volume,” he reasoned.

Nonetheless, Balderrama said exporters opt to serve the high-end market to avoid competing with their Chinese counterparts selling mass-produced items.

“To counter that, you have to focus on things that they can’t produce — which are labor-intensive and high-end products,” he said.

Balderrama shared that exporters also have difficulty meeting the target price of many discount stores based abroad. These stores ask for unreasonable less than 50-percent price reduction.  

“Our margins are already very minimal. So exporters tend to shy away from these discount stores,” he said.