Pottery sellers cash in on pandemic

By Lorenzo O. Lambatin, Jr.

 

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic brought the business sector to its knees worldwide.  Negros Occidental and its capital, Bacolod City, are no exceptions.

The Department of Trade and Industry here listed more than 700 business enterprises that closed as of September this year. These are mostly micro scale.

In Bacolod City, however, the pottery business is standing tall amidst the health crisis. In an unexpected turn of event, the people focused on planting in their homes that saw high demand for earthen pots.

Analiza Dumala, 38 years old mother, said their flowerpot stocks were all sold out in May of this year during the peak of sales.

“Our income either doubled or more than that,” she said.

“The pottery sales are up maybe because the people don’t have much things to do due to the lockdowns, so they turned to planting,” Analiza said.

Another seller who declined to be named said her sales soared high.

A mother of two and in her mid-age, she said a good day could gross P10, 000 with other days at P5, 000 during the summer of 2020. This could be partly because of her aggressive strategy, placing the products in the most prominent part of the roadside.

But not all pot sellers have positive stories to tell, though.

A certain “Rosa” revealed good sales depends on one’s stocks. She said she just buys from the “maninihon” or from clay molders. Rosa said her sales may have risen for a while but now it has gone back to normal and “it wasn’t that much.”

Fifty-six year-old Remegio Bermillo was able to finance his two kids’ schooling by selling pottery products.  The two have already finished college – one an engineer and the other an accounting graduate.

He said since the people have nowhere to go during the height of quarantine – malls are either closed or open at limited time, no cinema and no cockfighting; gardening became a popular hobby that benefited the pottery enterprise.

Just like any other business competition, capital and location play a vital role in the potters’ income. One thing is sure – demand for their products has risen.

The center of clay-based pottery in Bacolod City is located at the national highway of Barangays Pahanocoy and Tangub. Purok Maninihon, as they call the place, straddles between the two areas and has been existing for a long time.

Products sold vary from earthen cooking pot, garden figurines, water and food holders for chicken and the best-selling – flower pots of different size and colour.

Emma Vico at 85 years-old is the oldest in the trade. She has nine children that she all raised them from the pot trade. She said the business was handed down to her by her parents.

Pots on display stretch approximately 600 meters one side of the highway and about 100 meters on the other side.

The pandemic did not make all businesses suffer. Some flourished such as food delivery and internet-based enterprises. We now include in the list… the clay pottery. (PIA)