Cebu Furniture Subcontracting Sector Vital to Export Growth

CEBU CITY, PHILIPPINES - Philippine's Cebu furniture industry is urged to strengthen its subcontracting sector to further export growth, Canadian ambassador to the Philippines Peter Sutherland said.

Cebu continues to be the largest single source of Philippines' furniture exports, contributing about 40 percent of the total exports, reported the Cebu Furniture Industry Foundation Inc.

According to Sutherland, furniture subcontractors are a 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 even more competitive for the global market," he said.

The Canadian government, through its Private Enterprise Accelerated Resource Linkages-Phase 2 (Pearl 2) project, together with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PB-SP) are working on Project i.Build Cebu to support the local furniture subcontractors.

Now on its fourth quarter of implementation, Project i.Build, through PBSP, has facilitated the formation of seven subcontractor groups, providing training or workshops on organizational and enterprise management.

The Cebu furniture 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.

2/28/06

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