Furniture sector targets export sales of $1-B in 2004

The Philippine furniture industry is targeting export sales of $1 billion by 2004, according to the Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines (CFIP).

CFIP president Jose Leo Caparas, however, revealed that in order to reach the $1-billion mark, the sustainability of quality raw materials for the industry must be ensured.

It is estimated that for the furniture industry to meet its $1 billion export sales target by 2004, it will need about 0.357 million cubic meters of wood, 63 million linear meters of rattan and 1.5 million pieces of bamboo poles.

Furthermore, the furniture industry’s raw material requirement will increase every year by about 0.119 million cubic meters, 21 million linear meters and about 1.875 million pieces, respectively.

Caparas warned that if the domestic market is included, the requirement would triple as the local market is almost double the value of the export market.

The raw material needed for the local market alone, Caparas said, is 6,426 cubic meters of wood, 1,134 linear meters of rattan and 52.875 million poles of bamboo for the next four years.

Caparas, however, expressed apprehensions that the local furniture industry will have difficulty in filling its raw material requirement based on the current supply tread.

For wood alone, Caparas said, the current supply of 730,000 cubic meters is not enough to meet the furniture industry’s demand of about 2.14 million cubic meters in 2004.

The CFIP has identified a number of barriers to the sustainable supply of raw materials.

One of this is the difficulty in bringing the raw materials from the harvesting area to the furniture factories.

These difficulties include the bureaucratic red tape in securing harvesting permits from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the presence of unscrupulous personnel manning various checkpoints.

Technical issues also pose some problem, while on the financial side, there is lack of adequate financial support for plantation development.