Local Philippine textile manufacturers are eagerly looking forward to up to 30-percent year-on-year upward spike in sales in the fourth quarter as a result of deteriorating relations between Manila and Beijing over territorial claims.

The Textile Producers Association of the Philippines (TEXPAP) chairman Luna Go said that sales of locally-made textiles and garments were expected to peak ahead of the Yuletide.

As many native Chinese textile traders based in the Philippines had returned to China as angry words were exchanged between the two countries earlier this year.

He said that the unexpected departure of Chinese nationals apparently resulted in a significant decline in not only legitimate importations but also in smuggled textiles and garments from mainland China.

The continued congestion in the Port of Manila appeared to have a positive effect on the local textiles industry as well. TEXPAP members were more than happy to fill the void created as thousands of metric tons of imported textiles and garments continued to sit at the port.

Many local manufacturers of ready-to-wear apparel, who used to rely on cheaper Chinese raw material, decided to source their textiles locally.

They no longer wanted to wait for the imports because they had to beat the holiday production deadline in anticipation of very high demand.

Luna Go described the industry as having lapsed into a “comatose state” in recent years because of government’s inability to safeguard it from unfair foreign competition.

The unabated technical and outright smuggling of textiles and RTWs had caused half of TEXPAP members to close shop over the past decade.

The improved sales figures the local manufacturer are expecting this season might be nothing more than a temporary reprieve.

The local textile industry’s long-term survival depended to a large extent on the ability of the Bureau of Customs to step up to its mandate of curbing smuggling.

Despite the BoC’s claims to the contrary, there were indications that smuggling of textiles and garments remained rampant.

The senior official of TEXPAP said that this was the first time in the last five years the local textile industry would have a relatively merry Christmas.