Local jewelry makers urged to improve

MANILA, Philippines - Local jewelry makers will need new equipment as well as improved designs and marketing efforts to become competitive for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) economic integration.

“Jewelers fear the upcoming Asean integration in Jan. 1, 2015 because we are not ready to compete with them. Imagine what will happen if they are here already, we might just become traders. They are here selling jewelry cheaper than our jewelry,” Meycauayan Jewelry Industry Association Inc. chairman Cecille Ramos said in a statement from the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc.

The Asean Economic Community seeks to create a single market and production base to promote free movement of goods, services, investment and skilled labor within the region.

To prepare for the Asean economic integration, Ramos said industry players can acquire new equipment such as the vacuum pressure casting machine through the government’s Shared Service Facility (SSF) program.

The SSF program being undertaken by the Department of Trade and Industry involves providing common service facilities, modern equipment and access to the latest technology to micro, small and medium enterprises to help them compete both in the local and international markets.

“This will be a big help, it will be a common service facility for jewelers with volume orders... We have to level up, we have to acquire more machines that could lower our production cost to be competitive with them,” Ramos said.

Apart from having new machines and equipment, she said developing unique designs will be important.

“We are in collaboration with the Design Center of the Philippines in improving our products and also the packaging of our products. We intend to develop packaging (for our products) making use of indigenous materials therefore, you create jobs,” she said.

Industry players will likewise need to do more in terms of marketing and promoting their products.

“Because exports have been weak, to boost our sales, we participate in all major trade fairs now,” she noted.

While jewelers are preparing for the Asean economic integration, they would also like to grow sales from the local market.

Given the country’s strong economic performance, Ramos said local demand for jewelry is expected to increase 30 percent this year.

“Because of that, people have more money to spend for luxury items,” she said.