Business Mirror
Wednesday, 18 March 2009 22:56
POWER consumers in the Visayas, including Metro Cebu, can expect to get the biggest hike yet in their bills as distribution utilities start to pass on, starting this month, the provisional increase in the generation rates of the National Power Corp. (Napocor)
The Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) announced on Tuesday its close to 300,000 consumers will receive an average of around P1 increase per kilowatt-hour starting in their April electric bill.
Arlo Garcia Sarmiento, assistant vice president for utility economics, said they have no choice but to pass on to consumers the Napocor rate increase. “This is a purely generation- rate increase.”
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on February 16 provisionally approved the adjustments sought by Napocor and Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) “to immediately alleviate NPC’s current financial difficulties given its current costs of generating power, including discounts that it is mandated to extend to certain customers.”
The ERC approved a P0.4682 increase for Napocor generation rates in Luzon, P1.1460 in the Visayas and P0.7147 in Mindanao per kilowatt-hour spread across every hour of its existing time-of-use-based rates. The ERC has one year to decide with finality on the petition.
“Since the increase is only provisional, the hearings will continue and Veco will observe the proceedings,” added Sarmiento. “The increase should be justified by the supply company. We want to ensure the increase is fair to protect the interest of our consumers.”
Since Veco only gets around 75 percent of its power supply from Napocor, the actual average increase for all its consumer categories will only be around P0.936 per kWh.
For an average household consuming 175 kwh per month, the bill will see a P199 increase to around P1,326 a month, according to Veco.
Veco’s new average generation rates will be P4.2779, still lower than Meralco’s preincrease generation rate of P4.4750, Veco noted. The company is jointly controlled by listed companies Aboitiz Power Corp. and the Vivant Corp. of the Aboitiz and Garcia families of Cebu.
Sarmiento said the rates will not affect its buying rates from its independent power suppliers, the biggest of which is Cebu Private Power Corp. (CPPC). He said its contract with CPPC is no longer pegged on the Napocor rates, and thus will not be affected by the provisionally approved Napocor generation rate hike.
At the hearing of the Napocor petition in Cebu City on Wednesday, members of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) held a protest asking the regulatory body to junk the petition.
Lito Vasquez, secretary-general of FDC Cebu, said officers from its chapters in Eastern Visayas, Negros and Iloilo will come to Cebu to join the protest and express their opposition to the rates increase.
He said Gov. Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar and Gov. Sally Perez of Antique have already expressed opposition to the increase. The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental, likewise, passed a resolution opposing the increase.
“The NPC is raking in billions from its present rates yet it demands billions more in the middle of a raging worldwide crisis,” added Vasquez in his statement.
Making Folks Want What You Produce
-
by:
Willy Rodolfo
Business Mirror
Monday, 16 March 2009 21:16
EXPORT furniture manufacturer Charles Streegan is known in Cebu not to mince his words. And so when asked during a press conference how bad the business are these days, people braced for his words and reality. “It’s terrible. There is no business these days.
We’ve been in this business for 35 years, and I have not seen anything like it,” Streegan, who is also vice president of the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation (CFIF), said. “2009 is practically lost. We are now already looking at how to make it in 2010.”
The recently concluded Cebu International Furniture and Furnishings Exhibition (CebuX) 2009 was a clear gauge of the sheer size of the challenge the industry is facing these days, with exhibitors and attendance down by almost half. It did not also help that Manila- and Luzon-based manufacturers set their own show, Manila NOW, exactly on the same dates as the 25-year-old CebuX.
In less than two years, close to 15,000 direct employees of the industry lost their jobs, while around 30 companies closed. This does not count the subcontractors, suppliers and support economies relying on the industry.
Yet in many corners during the CebuX, manufacturers were still hopeful, in many booths business was still being transacted and overall industry players said they are hitting rock-bottom and there should be no other way but up.
The Cebu furniture industry is a proud example of Filipino creativity, ingenuity and craftsmanship—the best example of how a local industry can make it big abroad. From Hollywood movie sets, the recently most popular being the Las Vegas set of Ocean’s 12, to homes of celebrities like Brad Pitt, as well as Mr. and Mrs. André Agassi, or even Big Brother Australia, Cebu-made furniture is making a splash wherever it is displayed.
As of three years ago, Cebu made up almost half of the country’s estimated $300-million total in furniture exports, despite comprising only 20 percent of the total number of manufacturers in the country—a testament to Cebu’s positioning as a center for design-oriented, high-end furniture pieces as compared with mass-produced chairs and tables of China and Vietnam.
That is why the Department of Tourism, through Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, formally adopted the industry as a tourism attraction and with it valuable assistance in terms of marketing for the industry.
“There is no other industry that best describes the best of what the Philippines can offer,” the Cebuano secretary said. “The materials show our rich natural resources and the design and craftsmanship reflect the culture and the aptitude of our people.”
Despite the slowing world economy, manufacturers are holding fast, trying to survive the year while getting ready for the good times they all hope would come soon.
According to Lita Quisumbing of JLQ International Inc., they were already expecting a slow show this year, yet they committed to display and take up two booth spaces just to show to their clients and buyers that they are still in business and ready to take orders.
“We need to show to our buyers that we are still here, that is why we joined the show,” she said.
Another exhibitor, Jim Cassels of Mandaue City-based Lenbert Manufacturing Inc., said Cebu is surviving the hard times because it positioned itself as a design destination, not for promo furniture.
“We know that during bad times the rich are not that affected. They are affected but they can still buy furniture,” Cassels said. “If you look at the promo market, they’re dead. Factories in China are closing because there are no buyers anymore.”
Buyers are also recognizing the value of attending the Cebu show, although many lament the small size in terms of number of exhibitors. Tom Bihari of Australia said he had been visiting CebuX for many years, missing the event only last year.
“I come here because I know Cebu is very creative, and so I come here to look for new designs,” Bihari said.
Just like many other buyers, however, he said the show was small.
“I don’t understand why Manila is having another show. It’s just silly. There should only be one show,” he added.
According to Eric Vincent Casas, president of CFIF, the economic crisis is also in a way weeding the industry of players who could not slug it out in the international market. He said the companies that are surviving are finding ways to further cut costs and “going back to the basics”—design and material innovation.
“This is the time for us to reassess ourselves and how we are doing things, because we have to be ready for the future,” Casas said.
Angela Paulin, also the vice president of CFIF, said many companies like her take these times to develop more designs.
Despite the challenges, industry players are still optimistic about the future of the industry. During a side seminar at the CebuX, Hans Merkel, the editor in chief of Mobelmarkt magazine in Germany, said the country and its €8-billion-a-year furniture import, the biggest in Europe, is a lucrative market during these crisis years.
“They say there is a relationship between cars and furniture. When people buy less cars, they buy more furniture,” Merkel said. “It is about culture, Germans like to make a cozy home while there are problems outside.”
German furniture imports grew by 8 percent during the first nine months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007, just as the global economic crisis was setting in. Imports from China hit €720 million, Vietnam €111 million and Indonesia €77.5 million, underlining the vast market the Philippines could tap with its superior design.
“Furniture is seen to be the winners during the crisis,” Merkel said. During the last day of CebuX, several German retailers visited the show to look for potential pieces they could sell to the Germans. “The situation is not as bad as expected. The Germans continue to be the highest spender per capita on furniture, making them very attractive to international manufacturers and suppliers.”
Merkel said the Chinese market, once the juggernaut of the export furniture industry, is losing its foothold because of poor quality and failure to meet strict German standards, creating an opportunity for Philippine manufacturers.
Streegan said that with all the economic problems, 2009 is the defining moment of the industry—the stronger, better managed companies will survive to live for the better days while the weaker ones will disappear.
“This is the defining moment in the industry and the people who want to make it big in the industry. This is a great opportunity for us to change and be better for 2010,” Streegan said.
Cebu-based celebrated designer Kenneth Cobonpue said during crisis, Filipinos and designers are pushed not only to create beautiful pieces but ones that are truly global.
“The world does not need another chair. But we have to create something that will make the buyer say, ‘I want to have that piece,’” Cobonpue said.
Monday, 16 March 2009 21:16
EXPORT furniture manufacturer Charles Streegan is known in Cebu not to mince his words. And so when asked during a press conference how bad the business are these days, people braced for his words and reality. “It’s terrible. There is no business these days.
We’ve been in this business for 35 years, and I have not seen anything like it,” Streegan, who is also vice president of the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation (CFIF), said. “2009 is practically lost. We are now already looking at how to make it in 2010.”
The recently concluded Cebu International Furniture and Furnishings Exhibition (CebuX) 2009 was a clear gauge of the sheer size of the challenge the industry is facing these days, with exhibitors and attendance down by almost half. It did not also help that Manila- and Luzon-based manufacturers set their own show, Manila NOW, exactly on the same dates as the 25-year-old CebuX.
In less than two years, close to 15,000 direct employees of the industry lost their jobs, while around 30 companies closed. This does not count the subcontractors, suppliers and support economies relying on the industry.
Yet in many corners during the CebuX, manufacturers were still hopeful, in many booths business was still being transacted and overall industry players said they are hitting rock-bottom and there should be no other way but up.
The Cebu furniture industry is a proud example of Filipino creativity, ingenuity and craftsmanship—the best example of how a local industry can make it big abroad. From Hollywood movie sets, the recently most popular being the Las Vegas set of Ocean’s 12, to homes of celebrities like Brad Pitt, as well as Mr. and Mrs. André Agassi, or even Big Brother Australia, Cebu-made furniture is making a splash wherever it is displayed.
As of three years ago, Cebu made up almost half of the country’s estimated $300-million total in furniture exports, despite comprising only 20 percent of the total number of manufacturers in the country—a testament to Cebu’s positioning as a center for design-oriented, high-end furniture pieces as compared with mass-produced chairs and tables of China and Vietnam.
That is why the Department of Tourism, through Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, formally adopted the industry as a tourism attraction and with it valuable assistance in terms of marketing for the industry.
“There is no other industry that best describes the best of what the Philippines can offer,” the Cebuano secretary said. “The materials show our rich natural resources and the design and craftsmanship reflect the culture and the aptitude of our people.”
Despite the slowing world economy, manufacturers are holding fast, trying to survive the year while getting ready for the good times they all hope would come soon.
According to Lita Quisumbing of JLQ International Inc., they were already expecting a slow show this year, yet they committed to display and take up two booth spaces just to show to their clients and buyers that they are still in business and ready to take orders.
“We need to show to our buyers that we are still here, that is why we joined the show,” she said.
Another exhibitor, Jim Cassels of Mandaue City-based Lenbert Manufacturing Inc., said Cebu is surviving the hard times because it positioned itself as a design destination, not for promo furniture.
“We know that during bad times the rich are not that affected. They are affected but they can still buy furniture,” Cassels said. “If you look at the promo market, they’re dead. Factories in China are closing because there are no buyers anymore.”
Buyers are also recognizing the value of attending the Cebu show, although many lament the small size in terms of number of exhibitors. Tom Bihari of Australia said he had been visiting CebuX for many years, missing the event only last year.
“I come here because I know Cebu is very creative, and so I come here to look for new designs,” Bihari said.
Just like many other buyers, however, he said the show was small.
“I don’t understand why Manila is having another show. It’s just silly. There should only be one show,” he added.
According to Eric Vincent Casas, president of CFIF, the economic crisis is also in a way weeding the industry of players who could not slug it out in the international market. He said the companies that are surviving are finding ways to further cut costs and “going back to the basics”—design and material innovation.
“This is the time for us to reassess ourselves and how we are doing things, because we have to be ready for the future,” Casas said.
Angela Paulin, also the vice president of CFIF, said many companies like her take these times to develop more designs.
Despite the challenges, industry players are still optimistic about the future of the industry. During a side seminar at the CebuX, Hans Merkel, the editor in chief of Mobelmarkt magazine in Germany, said the country and its €8-billion-a-year furniture import, the biggest in Europe, is a lucrative market during these crisis years.
“They say there is a relationship between cars and furniture. When people buy less cars, they buy more furniture,” Merkel said. “It is about culture, Germans like to make a cozy home while there are problems outside.”
German furniture imports grew by 8 percent during the first nine months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007, just as the global economic crisis was setting in. Imports from China hit €720 million, Vietnam €111 million and Indonesia €77.5 million, underlining the vast market the Philippines could tap with its superior design.
“Furniture is seen to be the winners during the crisis,” Merkel said. During the last day of CebuX, several German retailers visited the show to look for potential pieces they could sell to the Germans. “The situation is not as bad as expected. The Germans continue to be the highest spender per capita on furniture, making them very attractive to international manufacturers and suppliers.”
Merkel said the Chinese market, once the juggernaut of the export furniture industry, is losing its foothold because of poor quality and failure to meet strict German standards, creating an opportunity for Philippine manufacturers.
Streegan said that with all the economic problems, 2009 is the defining moment of the industry—the stronger, better managed companies will survive to live for the better days while the weaker ones will disappear.
“This is the defining moment in the industry and the people who want to make it big in the industry. This is a great opportunity for us to change and be better for 2010,” Streegan said.
Cebu-based celebrated designer Kenneth Cobonpue said during crisis, Filipinos and designers are pushed not only to create beautiful pieces but ones that are truly global.
“The world does not need another chair. But we have to create something that will make the buyer say, ‘I want to have that piece,’” Cobonpue said.
-
Cebu furniture sector upbeat despite crunch
Thursday, March 5, 2009 -
by:
Willy Rodolfo
DESPITE the difficult times, Cebu’s landmark event for its proud export- furniture sector is set to open today with the number of exhibitors and buyers expected to be slightly lower, but with manufacturers exuding the same vigor that has spelled success for the industry for many decades.
With less than a hundred exhibitors, the Cebu Furniture and Furnishings Exhibition (CebuX) 2009 claims to have gathered the oldest and strongest players in the industry—manufacturers who have survived the political and economic storms for more than five decades.
“These are challenging times, yet we see this as an opportunity to solidify Cebu’s position as the design destination of Asia,” show chairman Allan Murillo said.
“While our competition holds back, we are as aggressive as ever to bring our products to the attention of the international market,” he added.
Cebu’s products are hardly hit by the successive setbacks, especially from its biggest market, the United States. Barely surviving the Asian economic crisis, the 9/11 attacks pushed demand down, then this was followed by the foreign-exchange debacles, the subprime-mortgage crisis and now the global economic recession, which pulled a once $300-million Cebu industry to face its toughest challenges yet.
Players, however, say while traditional markets like the United States feel the effects of the economic pinch, Philippine furniture exports are getting more attention elsewhere, including at home, which will be highlighted more than ever this year.
The domestic market, buoyed by the boom in the real-estate and tourism sector, is also keeping the sector alive as more stylish condominiums and luxury hotels turn to world-class Philippine furniture to spruce up their projects.
This year CebuX will bring to its show not only buyers from international furniture retail chains but interior designers, architects, resort and hotel managers, as well as property developers in the country and from abroad, representing the new market furniture manufacturers are tapping starting this year.
“These are trying times but there is still business as long as we focus on our strength in design and manufacturing,” said Eric Casas, president of Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation (CFIF), the organizer of CebuX.
The optimism is not without basis, despite the economic crunch in 2008, sales actually went up a little at the CebuX at $15.4 million, slightly higher than the $15 million in the 2007 show.
The number of buyers who joined last year’s show was also modestly higher at 1,551, compared with 1,483 from the previous year.
And one of the most promising signs is that more buyers from more countries attended the show last year, a record-high at 77 countries represented in the show.
“It is during times like this when the bolder players take the risks and push their limits of design and innovation. It is during times like this when passionate players position themselves for the certain good times ahead,” Murillo said.
With extensive programs like the design and product development program (DPDP) in place, companies joining CebuX have been trained by key players in the industry on design and materials manipulation.
Upcoming designers from academe are also given the chance to release their bold breakthrough creations through the student-internship program, also under the DPDP.
With less than a hundred exhibitors, the Cebu Furniture and Furnishings Exhibition (CebuX) 2009 claims to have gathered the oldest and strongest players in the industry—manufacturers who have survived the political and economic storms for more than five decades.
“These are challenging times, yet we see this as an opportunity to solidify Cebu’s position as the design destination of Asia,” show chairman Allan Murillo said.
“While our competition holds back, we are as aggressive as ever to bring our products to the attention of the international market,” he added.
Cebu’s products are hardly hit by the successive setbacks, especially from its biggest market, the United States. Barely surviving the Asian economic crisis, the 9/11 attacks pushed demand down, then this was followed by the foreign-exchange debacles, the subprime-mortgage crisis and now the global economic recession, which pulled a once $300-million Cebu industry to face its toughest challenges yet.
Players, however, say while traditional markets like the United States feel the effects of the economic pinch, Philippine furniture exports are getting more attention elsewhere, including at home, which will be highlighted more than ever this year.
The domestic market, buoyed by the boom in the real-estate and tourism sector, is also keeping the sector alive as more stylish condominiums and luxury hotels turn to world-class Philippine furniture to spruce up their projects.
This year CebuX will bring to its show not only buyers from international furniture retail chains but interior designers, architects, resort and hotel managers, as well as property developers in the country and from abroad, representing the new market furniture manufacturers are tapping starting this year.
“These are trying times but there is still business as long as we focus on our strength in design and manufacturing,” said Eric Casas, president of Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation (CFIF), the organizer of CebuX.
The optimism is not without basis, despite the economic crunch in 2008, sales actually went up a little at the CebuX at $15.4 million, slightly higher than the $15 million in the 2007 show.
The number of buyers who joined last year’s show was also modestly higher at 1,551, compared with 1,483 from the previous year.
And one of the most promising signs is that more buyers from more countries attended the show last year, a record-high at 77 countries represented in the show.
“It is during times like this when the bolder players take the risks and push their limits of design and innovation. It is during times like this when passionate players position themselves for the certain good times ahead,” Murillo said.
With extensive programs like the design and product development program (DPDP) in place, companies joining CebuX have been trained by key players in the industry on design and materials manipulation.
Upcoming designers from academe are also given the chance to release their bold breakthrough creations through the student-internship program, also under the DPDP.
-
Bizmen on Mactan Island brace for 12,000 job losses
-
by:
Willy Rodolfo
Business Mirror
Tuesday, 03 March 2009 23:57
LOCAL businessmen on Mactan Island in Cebu are bracing for at least 12,000 job losses this year as exporters and manufacturers in the city’s three economic zones continue to suffer the effects of the recession.
Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Efraim Pelaez Jr. said the group estimates that companies would retrench up to 25 percent of their work force as orders from abroad dwindle.
“Everybody’s having problems managing their inventories and canceling orders,” Pelaez said. “We must think that people abroad are the ones buying the furniture by Dedon and Maitland-Smith [furniture companies] and even the printers of Lexmark.”
He said Maitland-Smith alone, one of the four biggest locators at the Mactan Economic Zone 1, has retrenched 750 casual employees and 150 regular workers as demand for high-end furniture mostly from the US declined.
The numbers do not include support economies like subcontractors, who are also relying on the production scale of the locators on Mactan.
Pelaez, however, said that unlike other regions in the Philippines, Cebu is in a much better situation because of two “sunshine industries”— business-process outsourcing (BPO) and tourism, which are still experiencing robust growth.
He said the chamber is now preparing a program to train displaced manufacturing workers to work as chambermaids or support staff for hotels and resorts on Mactan which are continually building and expanding.
“We have committed that we [chamber] can take care of the tourism sector and leave the BPO to the others,” he said. He explained business chambers have pledged to further strengthen the two growing industries to keep the Cebu economy going.
“We are lucky we are insulated somewhat because of tourism and BPO and there are still some room for growth there,” he said.
Tuesday, 03 March 2009 23:57
LOCAL businessmen on Mactan Island in Cebu are bracing for at least 12,000 job losses this year as exporters and manufacturers in the city’s three economic zones continue to suffer the effects of the recession.
Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Efraim Pelaez Jr. said the group estimates that companies would retrench up to 25 percent of their work force as orders from abroad dwindle.
“Everybody’s having problems managing their inventories and canceling orders,” Pelaez said. “We must think that people abroad are the ones buying the furniture by Dedon and Maitland-Smith [furniture companies] and even the printers of Lexmark.”
He said Maitland-Smith alone, one of the four biggest locators at the Mactan Economic Zone 1, has retrenched 750 casual employees and 150 regular workers as demand for high-end furniture mostly from the US declined.
The numbers do not include support economies like subcontractors, who are also relying on the production scale of the locators on Mactan.
Pelaez, however, said that unlike other regions in the Philippines, Cebu is in a much better situation because of two “sunshine industries”— business-process outsourcing (BPO) and tourism, which are still experiencing robust growth.
He said the chamber is now preparing a program to train displaced manufacturing workers to work as chambermaids or support staff for hotels and resorts on Mactan which are continually building and expanding.
“We have committed that we [chamber] can take care of the tourism sector and leave the BPO to the others,” he said. He explained business chambers have pledged to further strengthen the two growing industries to keep the Cebu economy going.
“We are lucky we are insulated somewhat because of tourism and BPO and there are still some room for growth there,” he said.
-
Half of Cebu bizmen have dim outlook
Monday, March 2, 2009 -
by:
Willy Rodolfo
BUsiness Mirror
Monday, 02 March 2009 00:00
CEBU CITY—Close to half of business executives in Metro Cebu expect the economy to worsen in 2009, according to a survey by various business chambers and professional organizations here.
Clarito Fruelda, vice president for external affairs of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), said one reason is that in the coming months, the manufacturing and export sectors are expected to reduce production for lack of orders and sales.
“Many of the businessmen are expecting their production volumes to go down. This may result in more jobs getting lost,” said Fruelda. “The condition of the market could force companies to reduce their manpower.”
The survey was conducted by the Cebu Economic Advisory Group (CEAG), composed of various local and foreign business chambers and the academe. Over 100 respondents answered the survey held between December and January.
Those surveyed were members of the CCCI, businessmen from the Japanese, American, and European business chambers, locators at the Mactan Economic Zone, Finex Cebu, and the Cebu Bankers Club. The survey was managed by Dr. Juanito Aliño of the University of San Jose-Recoletos.
According to the survey, 46 percent of the respondents expect the economy to worsen, and 41 percent expect a higher inflation rate.
Despite the generally grim expectations, a number of businesses also expect improvements in their sector. Some 28 percent of respondents said they expect an improvement in the “main business activity/sector” while 34 percent said there will be no change. Around 36 percent expect a “deteriorating condition.”
Respondents from 75 of the Japanese firms that are members of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Cebu see their business “deteriorate” in 2009.
Still, Fruelda said Cebu is faring better than the rest of the country because while manufacturing and exports are plummeting, the tourism and business process outsourcing sectors are showing advances. “We are lucky because there are some balancing factors in the region’s economy. While many sectors are going down, some sectors are still going up and this keeps the economy going.”
CCCI president Edward Gaisano said in a statement it is crucial for the individual businesses and government agencies to identify the workers set for layoffs so they could be retrained.
“There is also a need to address issues and concerns especially in the areas of peace and order, traffic, power, and water utilities as these can strategically affect the overall business climate in Cebu for 2009,” said Gaisano.
The CEAG was organized to identify and address common concerns of the various business groups in Cebu. Gaisano said that while certain issues are top priority for some business sectors, there are common problems that businesses in general should face.
Monday, 02 March 2009 00:00
CEBU CITY—Close to half of business executives in Metro Cebu expect the economy to worsen in 2009, according to a survey by various business chambers and professional organizations here.
Clarito Fruelda, vice president for external affairs of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), said one reason is that in the coming months, the manufacturing and export sectors are expected to reduce production for lack of orders and sales.
“Many of the businessmen are expecting their production volumes to go down. This may result in more jobs getting lost,” said Fruelda. “The condition of the market could force companies to reduce their manpower.”
The survey was conducted by the Cebu Economic Advisory Group (CEAG), composed of various local and foreign business chambers and the academe. Over 100 respondents answered the survey held between December and January.
Those surveyed were members of the CCCI, businessmen from the Japanese, American, and European business chambers, locators at the Mactan Economic Zone, Finex Cebu, and the Cebu Bankers Club. The survey was managed by Dr. Juanito Aliño of the University of San Jose-Recoletos.
According to the survey, 46 percent of the respondents expect the economy to worsen, and 41 percent expect a higher inflation rate.
Despite the generally grim expectations, a number of businesses also expect improvements in their sector. Some 28 percent of respondents said they expect an improvement in the “main business activity/sector” while 34 percent said there will be no change. Around 36 percent expect a “deteriorating condition.”
Respondents from 75 of the Japanese firms that are members of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Cebu see their business “deteriorate” in 2009.
Still, Fruelda said Cebu is faring better than the rest of the country because while manufacturing and exports are plummeting, the tourism and business process outsourcing sectors are showing advances. “We are lucky because there are some balancing factors in the region’s economy. While many sectors are going down, some sectors are still going up and this keeps the economy going.”
CCCI president Edward Gaisano said in a statement it is crucial for the individual businesses and government agencies to identify the workers set for layoffs so they could be retrained.
“There is also a need to address issues and concerns especially in the areas of peace and order, traffic, power, and water utilities as these can strategically affect the overall business climate in Cebu for 2009,” said Gaisano.
The CEAG was organized to identify and address common concerns of the various business groups in Cebu. Gaisano said that while certain issues are top priority for some business sectors, there are common problems that businesses in general should face.
-
