Over 81 garment, fabric and leather companies from 9 countries and regions are slated to participate in the Philippine Garment Industry & Fabric Expo 2018, which will be held at the SMX Convention Centre in Manila from August 23-26. The event will highlight leather goods and machinery along with leather goods design as well as various tools and software. 

The expo is being endorsed by the Philippine Board of Investment (BOI) and the Confederation of Wearables Exporters of the Philippines (CONWEP). Hong Kong based CP Exhibitions is the international organiser and sales coordinator for the event, while Philippine Exhibits and Themeparks Corporation (PETCO) is the co-organiser. 

The ‘Opportunities in the Philippine Garments, Leather Goods and Fabric Industries’ forum will be held during the event to highlight the status of these industries in the country. Investment incentives or opportunities available to the investors will also be discussed. 

Luen Thai Holdings Limited (Hong Kong) will also hold a session to provide potential investors a closer look on how the company became globally competitive with the assistance from the Philippine government through investment incentives and industry policies. 

Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI) will discuss about the Philippine Tropical Fabrics (PTF) and their opportunities for domestic and international market. A forum on global outlook and supply chain trends will also be held along with a session on the Vietnam garment industry. 

The Philippines is an Asian economy with 104 million population domestic market and good export potential. In 1980s, Philippines ranked top 6 exporters of apparel to the US during the quota ages. In 2015, Philippines still had 137,000 textiles and 422,000 garment company workers. Efforts have been made to increase exports to the US. Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is targeting $1 billion in incremental investments, $3 billion in apparel exports and 600,000 jobs. 

The Philippines is the only ASEAN country that enjoys the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status, which grants full removal of tariffs to over two-thirds of tariff lines. As a member of ASEAN and WTO, the Philippines have ratified a number of regional free trade agreements to deepen economic integration in the region, including China (ACFTA), Korea (AKFTA), Australia - New Zealand (AANZFTA), Japan (AJCEPA), India (AIFTA) and European (EFTA). (KD)