LOCAL furniture manufacturers look to infiltrate high-end overseas markets, particularly Middle East economies, next year to augment export revenues, all the while tapping the growing domestic market.
In a statement, the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. said its member-furniture makers plan to improve export activities in 2019 by penetrating high-end markets abroad. They aim to capitalize on developments in Russia and Qatar, as well as the stable demands in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, according to Philexport Trustee Myrna C. Bituin.
“We will be looking into the developments of Russia and Qatar. Very recently, we have a mission to Qatar. Of course, Dubai will always be a market for villas and we are having some projects in Saudi Arabia,” Bituin said.
However, exporters have to work together to supply to these new and existing markets, she argued. Bituin also said the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines is working with domestic producers that can meet the demand in the United States. The industry’s road map pinned the US as market where demand would grow in the next five years. This is why the strategy must be to explore new markets and turn them into niches, Bituin explained.
“We are also hopeful on Russia,” the Philexport official said. “It is very surprising [that] I was also shipping to Latvia.”