Philippines Garment Textile Industry Urgently Needs To Revive, Calling On Chinese Enterprises To Invest And Cooperate

Local clothing manufacturers in Philippines hope that the government can stimulate local clothing and textile industry through tax revenue, and appeal to the government to attract Chinese enterprises interested in investing in investment cooperation.

Robert, President of the Philippines foreign purchasers Association, said the industry needed government subsidies, especially labor and electricity expenditure, to reduce the cost of doing business in the country.

"Some Chinese companies are consulting on the establishment of factories in Philippine stores.

"Robert stressed that Philippines should make good use of this point to attract Chinese enterprises to come.

The Federation of exporters of Philippines has also proposed more tax subsidies, which are now being legalized.

It is understood that the government is promoting tax reform to attract higher quality investment opportunities.

While reforming tax incentives, we should gradually lower the standard of enterprise income tax.

Robert said that the benefits of preferential taxation in Philippines's labour law should not be deleted.

On the contrary, more rights should be given, such as allowance rights, labor force enhancement, skills training and so on.

"Clothing industry is a very labor-intensive industry, you know.

"Robert said.

The clothing and textile industry used to be competitive in the export market, and even in 1990s it was considered a sunrise industry.

Since the abolition of textile quotas by WTO in 2005, the export performance of Philippines has declined.

The clothing and textile enterprises in the country have also experienced numerous difficulties, such as factories closing down, shrinking scale and large layoffs.

At a news conference in August 2018, William Ang, manager of Globe Textile Industries Corp, complained that the clothing industry was rarely supported by the Philippine government.

On behalf of the Philippines Garment Manufacturers Association, Philippines has many talented designers, but it is easy to be ignored and less valued.

Similarly, Robert also stressed that once the Philippines garment industry recovers, the country can enter more markets, especially the ASEAN market.

Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and even Burma and other neighbouring countries are now trying to fill the vacancy, but lack of more space to create new products. This is also the time for Philippines to revive the industry.

"Robert said.