The Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines, a major trading group, said it expects to generate $1.2 billion in booked contracts by end-2021, up 33.3 percent from $900 million in 2020.
“If there will no crippling quarantine, we are trying our best effort for $1 billion to $1.2 billion this yearend,” said FOBAP chairman and president Robert Young.
He said the Philippines was looking at around $300-million worth of additional orders from overseas garments clients because of the lockdown in Vietnam. “Plus, there are more orders from Myanmar whose currency devalued at around 60 percent,” he said.
FOBAP, however, expressed concern over the opportunities in the US. The group said the unprecedented supply chain disruptions in the United States might affect the Philippine textile and garment industry.
FOBAP said this was due to the factory closures and quarantine rules around Asia and Europe and the debilitating shipping delivery delays linked to COVID-19.