Furniture makers vow to make CebuX bolder

Trying to keep a stronghold in the world market, despite declining interests due to more active competitors, the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation Inc. (CFIF) gears up to make sure next year's International Furniture and Furnishing Exhibition (CebuX) will be bolder and much bigger.

From the level of P5 million promotional budget earmarked for each year's show, CFIF has allotted an additional 10 percent on top of the original funds to drum up awareness of the show from the international market, as well as participation of exhibitors from all over the country.

CFIF is going to make a braver, bolder hype about the show next year, in a desperate move to sustain the Philippines' market share, with the discouraging plight of the industry in the last few years.

"Difficult times require drastic measures, we will strongly push a promotion in the international market, highlighting CebuX as a brand, and the best show of quality furniture and furnishings in Southeast Asia," said Laurie Boquiren, CFIF member of the board of trustee.

CebuX 2007 was formally introduced to stakeholders recently at the Marco Polo Hotel.

CFIF president Michael Basubas said because the industry is desperate, it has tapped non-traditional means of exchange deals with international organizations and trade fairs, to market the CebuX in different countries.

From a level of 1,000 to 2,000 buyer attendance performance registered in the last exhibitions, Boquiren said CFIF is expecting to break a record next year, and aims to lure at much as 5,000 foreign buyers to visit the show.

In the last few years, the show had experienced odds, relating to peace and order problems, resulting to cancellation of buyer attendance from different countries.

According to Boquiren, CebuX will be inviting more participation from other regional areas in the country, like Bacolod, Davao, and Manila, to make the show bigger.

"There will be a lot of first time participants in the show, we would like to satisfy the buyers by providing not only Cebu's best in furniture making, but also the country's best," she said.

Although, the CebuX is one of the oldest furniture shows, it has become the smallest in terms of size and participation, compared to other shows in Asia.

"Let us not be contented of what we have done in the past. This is the only time to attract more buyers to come in. We need to increase number of attendance by marketing Cebu X to trade buyers, exhibitors, sponsors and suppliers, and other strategic partners," Boquiren told stakeholders in her presentation.

The four-day run of Cebu X 2006 held last February generated US$20.4 million sales with the Middle East still the largest purchase accounting for 26 percent of the total sales. Other top buyer countries include; North America, countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America.

Last year, there were a total of 1,562 buyers representing 61 countries from 628 companies.

In the six Asian countries competing in the world furniture market, only the Philippines registered a continued negative growth since the year 2000.

The country is now suffering from negative six percent growth in the furniture exports, while China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are all enjoying positive growth.