Furniture exporter survives with growing local demand

CEBU, Philippines – While the recovery of the overseas market moves to a crawl, furniture manufacturer Coast Pacific Manufacturing Corporation (CPMC) shifts its focus towards the promising local market for its furniture products.        

CPMC chief financial officer (CFO) Justine Andrew C. Lo said that what kept the company afloat at the height of the global economic crisis is the increasing demand from the local market, which is mostly coming from institutional clients like hotels, resorts, restaurants, and even residential condominiums.

While other furniture makers in Cebu are still clinging unto their dollar-denominated sales, some companies however like CPMC are slowly developing their niche in the local market.

Lo, however said that orders are still not comparable to the order from overseas buyers, but during the crisis, the momentum in the local market helped divert further retrenchments and streamlining in the company's operations.

CPMC is known for its quality outdoor furniture products that are largely exported to countries such as Italy, Spain, and other countries in Europe, United States, Middle East and Australia.

Lo added that the robust growth in the tourism sector and the real estate industry also helped the ailing furniture export companies to cope with the crisis.

If tapped effectively, Lo said the furniture makers will still see the light at the end of the tunnel with the help of the local market. He however said that the local furniture makers cannot let go of their overseas clients for as long there are orders to be able to provide security for its business and its employees.

With the ongoing as well as upcoming projects in Cebu that involves the construction of condominiums, resorts, hotels, and restaurants, furniture companies have a lot to look forward to from the local market.

Although the furniture industry here acknowledged that the active domestic market served as the industry's savior during difficult times, other industry players said the local demand is still not sufficient to sustain the life of the business.

"We really have to go out there and look for more markets abroad. Domestic market is only a 'band-aid' solution especially that local sales are coming from institutional clients and demand is not constant," said Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation Inc. (CFIF) president Angela Paulin in an earlier interview.

Paulin however admitted that the shift of other furniture companies to entertain local clients had made the industry survived, but focusing on local market alone, cannot sustain the industry's survival for long.

At the height of the global crisis, most furniture companies in Cebu were able to get good orders from local institutional clients, such as new hotels and resorts in famous tourism destinations, like Boracay, and big clients in Manila, as well as in Cebu. (FREEMAN)