The Philippines should aggressively pursue its niche in service exports, particularly construction, through its free trade agreements (FTAs), trade officials said.
In a forum “ Global Construction Market Opportunities” on Friday, Trade Undersecretary Abdulgani Macatoman, however, said the number of Philippine construction service exporters has dwindled from over a hundred in the 1980s to just 37 at present.
Macatoman said despite this, the overseas construction industry contributed $116.08 million services exports from January 2018 to June 2020.
Undersecretary Allan Gepty said based on the review of the Department of Trade Industry (DTI) of the total services trade of the Philippines with select FTA partners in 2019, construction contributed the least and is in fact nil in two countries, Australia and New Zealand.
Services trade in construction in 2019 of the Philippines with China stood at $9.3 billion; with Japan, $7.4 billion and with Korea, $3.2 billion.
Macatoman said overseas construction projects through company-to-company arrangements, construction services exporters generate employment for the country’s construction workers and professionals even after the overseas projects have been completed.
Gepty said FTAs guarantee market access for the country’s service providers as well as as engineers, architects and executives involved in investments or the supply of services.
“With FTAs, we will expect stability and predictability of rules in the construction industry.
We will expect an equitable, fair competition and access to cheaper quality construction materials,” Gepty said, adding this will also benefit end consumers. These materials include cement, wood articles, stone, plaster, ceramic and glassware which are traded duty-free,
“We hope that Philippine construction companies can also see some opportunities from the FTAs which will provide us cheaper costs, convenience ,competitiveness and complementation,” Gepty said.
Macatoman said the market for global construction is anticipated to grow by an average of around 3 to 4 percent by 2022 with emerging markets such as India, China, Vietnam, Australia, and Indonesia seeing significant growth.
“While construction opportunities in the domestic market are abundant due to the Build Build Build Program of the current administration, exposure to overseas markets help companies innovate and remain competitive,” Macatoman said. – Irma Isip
