The garments industry is resetting itself to pre-pandemic levels this year as it continues to see the return of booked orders and slowly rehires laid-off workers.
Marites Agoncillo, executive director of the Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines (CONWEP), said the industry is projecting a solid 2 to 3 percent growth this year from 2021 and signs are showing of a return to 2019 figures.
Agoncillo said January to April performance showed a 20-percent increase in exports from a year ago.
Agoncillo said the industry posted a drastic decline of up to 40 percent during the pandemic, losing $500 million to $600 million in exports and laying off as much as 40,000 workers as some factories closed down while others consolidated operations.
Coming from a 9 percent increase in 2019, exports fell 25 percent in 2020 to $1.4 billion before swinging back to growth of 22 percent to $1.8 billion, still below pre-pandemic values of $1.9 billion
For the first four months of 2022, exports of apparel rose 16 percent to $266 million from $229 million last year while exports of textile jumped 9 percent to $99 million from $90.7 million. Travel good recorded a 38 percent rise in exports to $237 million from $172 million while footwear was still a bit down, $31 million from $34 million.
She said the Philippines started getting “tailwinds of orders” in 2021 from other countries in Southeast Asia which were not able to service exports due to the hard lockdowns imposed in their territories during COVID.
“We believe the global economy is getting back on its feet and definitely there is consumer demand,” Agoncillo said in an interview.
She added CONWEP has noted a surge in orders for bags and other leather goods like wallets.
The US remains its biggest market with 72 percent market share.
CONWEP expects to bring back its headcount to 280,000 this year from 240,000 as some factories reopen and resume 90 percent capacity utilization.
