Cebu’s furniture industry must further strengthen its subcontracting sector to regain export growth, Canadian ambassador to the Philippines Peter Sutherland said.

According to Sutherland, furniture subcontractors are vital sector of the industry that needed further development.

“The subcontractors provide the most important component of export products, maximizing quality to make the product more competitive for the global market,” he said.

Sutherland graced the opening of the “Best of Visayas Fair” at the Trade Hall of SM City Cebu last Wednesday.

The five-day fair exhibit showcases finest furniture and furnishings among others, including raw materials of subcontractors.

Sutherland cited the need to put focus on developing the subcontractor sector to achieve growth in the furniture export industry.

Helping in the development of furniture subcontractors, which is comprised of small and medium enterprises that employs the majority of the workforce in Cebu, is also seen as another way to alleviate poverty.

The Canadian government, through its Private Enterprise Accelerated Resource Linkages-Phase 2 (Pearl 2) project, has infused a P2.5 million (US$48.1 million) development assistance fund in the private-sector-led capability building support program, called the Project i.Build Cebu Furniture.

The program’s beneficiaries are the Cebu’s local furniture subcontractors.

Together with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PB-SP), a private and non-profit foundation, the Pearl 2 project addresses the need to support the local furniture subcontractors through Project i.Build.

PBSP, on the other hand, allotted almost P 4.8 million for the one and half year Project i.Build development program.

Now on its fourth quarter of implementation, Project i.Build, through PBSP, has facilitated the formation of seven subcontractor groups.

At the same time, the program also provided training or workshops on organizational and enterprise management.

The subcontractor groups include Tabok Workers’ Multipurpose Cooperative, Cebu Eastern Producers Multipurpose Cooperative, Mactan Wood Carvers, Basket Weavers Multipurpose Cooperative, Tayuranon Multipurpose Cooperative, Mandaue subcontractors and Development Multipurpose Cooperative, and Lapu-Lapu Multipurpose Cooperative.

The baseline study for the database of subcontractors in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Danao, and Talisay and in the municipalities of Cordova, Consolacion, Lilo-an, Compostela, Minglanilla and Naga is still on going.

The five-day “Best of Visayas Fair” which opened last Wedensday, ends Sunday.

It showcases hard-to-find indigenous handicrafts, regional delicacies, farm-fresh vegetables and flowers from PB-SP’s assisted people organizations in Regions 6, 7 and 8.

Cebu remains the biggest single source of the country’s furniture exports, accounting for about 40 per cent of total exports, according to the Cebu furniture Industry Foundation Inc.

PNA

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