The Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP) recently said the domestic textile and apparel industry has already received bulk orders from countries that cannot be served by Vietnam, China, India and Bangladesh due to minimum order quantity requirement.

“We can now project that the $1.5 billion [exports volume] for 2022 year end is just a walk in the park,” FOBAP president Robert Young, who is also the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) trustee for textile, yarn and fabric sector, said in a statement.

Young said the industry would be able to fulfill its orders despite persisting supply chain problems like port congestions, according to media reports in the country.

Young admitted that the Russia-Ukraine crisis would be a challenge in meeting the industry’s export target this year due to trade sanctions on Russia.

The country’s shipments of apparel and textile last year were worth $1.052 billion, $758 million of which was accounted for by garments.

About 80 per cent of the country’s textile and garment exports are shipped to the United States, while the rest goes to the European Union, Australia, Canada and ASEAN countries.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)