...the best manufacturing relocation site

Foreign firms seen relocating to Phl

 

 

By Louella D. Desiderio

The Philippine Star

April 13, 2014

 

 

 

MANILA, Philippines - Several foreign manufacturing companies operating in China and in Southeast Asian countries are eyeing to relocate to the Philippines citing the available high-quality labor here, the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP) said.

In a statement from the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc., FOBAP president Robert Young said two French investors are coming to Manila by the end of the month, while a number of Canadian, Chinese and American companies are visiting the country in mid-May to scout for investment opportunities.

Young said these are mid-sized manufacturers of garments, apparel, shoes, toys and housewares looking to invest around $500 million and employ 1,000 to 3,000 workers.

“These people are financially capable, they are ready, they mean business, they are serious... We are lucky if we get at least 10 initially from all parts of China and other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries,” he said.

Companies are moving out of China amid increasing labor unrest resulting in reduced labor pool, as well as higher capital costs.

The group is looking forward to the country becoming a beneficiary of the European Union’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (EU GSP+) citing that such will make the country an attractive and cheaper source of goods.

The Department of Trade and Industry submitted the Philippines’ application to the EU GSP+, a scheme which will allow more goods to enter the bloc at zero duty, in December.

The EU GSP+ covers 6,274 products which can enter the EU at zero duty.

At present, the Philippines is a beneficiary of the regular GSP, which covers 6,209 products, with 2,442 products subject to zero duty and the rest slapped with lower tariffs.

“Philippine goods will be duty free entry to EU. Also, (with) the forthcoming incentivized/subsidized labor, this makes investments in the Philippines attractive,” Young said.

By having new investments here, Young said FOBAP members which source products for foreign buyers, will have more factories and suppliers to choose from.

“Right now, we are running out of suppliers because in the past five years, they closed shops one by one. If they will come back, our own business will also flourish together with the Philippine economy,” he added.

 

...the manufacturing hub

‘PH can be manufacturing hub’

 

 

By Katlene O. Cacho
Sunstar Cebu

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

CHINA’s loss of competitive edge as a low-cost manufacturing base presents opportunities for the rest of Asia to become manufacturing hubs, particularly the Philippines, a real estate expert said.

Professor Enrique Soriano, program director for real estate of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, said there is need for the Aquino government to pour in more money for infrastructure development and manufacturing to achieve inclusive growth.

“2013 is a banner year for the Aquino administration. The economy is moving forward.
There will be so much leapfrogging this year until 2016,” Soriano said during a recent economic briefing.

But to sustain the economic momentum, Soriano believes government should start releasing and spending its money and implementing long-overdue projects such as those under the public-private partnerships (PPPs).

“PPP will flood markets with jobs and will eventually increase the purchasing power of consumers,” Soriano said. “President Aquino, under his term, was able to stabilize the market. Jobs grew under his watch but he should start spending money to further lift the economy.”

Confidence

It is also high time for the Aquino government to be aggressive in bringing back manufacturing now that confidence in the business is picking up, he added.

Soriano said the country is standing on solid ground in terms of attracting more investments for the labor-intensive sector, considering that the world’s manufacturing hub, China, is no longer known as the “factory of the world” due to labor issues and its ageing population.

“Philippines should campaign for inclusive growth with manufacturing,” Soriano said.

But the Philippines still has a lot of catching up to do with other Asian neighbors in terms of increasing the share of manufacturing to its gross domestic product (GDP).

GDP refers to the total market value of all finished goods and services produced in a country in a specific period of time.

In his presentation, Soriano said Thailand was able to grow the share of its manufacturing sector from 23 percent in 1970 to 43.3 percent in 2009, whereas the Philippines managed to grow from 27.5 percent share to 30.2 percent during the same period.

But Soriano said there have been positive developments in the past years. He said this is reason for government to be aggressive in attracting more foreign direct investments, particularly for the manufacturing sector, as it create more jobs.

He said that the country has so much potential to be the world’s next manufacturing hub, given the quality and quantity of its workforce and its economic standing as one of the Asian countries that managed to grow despite the economic slowdown in the USA and Europe.

 

...the PH consumer confidence

PHL consumer confidence one of highest in world – Nielsen

 

GMA News

February 5, 2013

The Philippines is one of the most optimistic countries when it comes to consumer confidence, said a new survey released by international research firm Nielsen on Tuesday.

Nielsen's Fourth Quarter Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions gave the Philippines a score of 119 for the last quarter of 2012, one point higher than its score in the third quarter.

The total ranks the Philippines second only to India in the global tally, with the latter scoring 121 to lead the pack for the second straight quarter.

The survey, which was conducted from November 10 to 27, 2012, tallied the online responses of 29,000 respondents from 58 countries. The survey's baseline is 100; countries scoring below that is seen as having a "pessimistic" outlook when it comes to consumer confidence.

Only 10 countries of the 58 registered an "optimistic" outlook; after India and the Philippines, the top 10 is rounded out by Indonesia (117), Thailand (115), the United Arab Emirates (113), Saudi Arabia (112), Brazil (111), China (108), Malaysia (103), and Norway (102).

The 10 countries with the lowest scores in consumer confidence are Bulgaria (61), Japan (59), Slovakia (57), France (52), Spain (46), Croatia (42), Italy (39), South Korea and Portugal (tied at 38), Hungary (37) and Greece (35).

“While consumers around the world struggled with increasing economic concerns, consumers in the Philippines continue to have a positive outlook. This optimism can be attributed to the strong performance of the economy in 2012 which was driven by real estate, construction, manufacturing, services, and trade sectors,” said Nielsen Philippines managing director Stuart Jamieson in a statement.

According to the study, in the fourth quarter of 2012 Filipinos felt confident about:

- local job prospects: 76 percent are optimistic about job prospects in 2013. The rate is four points higher than the rate in the previous quarter, and is one of the highest in the world; and

- personal finances: 77 percent feel confident about their personal finances, a one-percent drop quarter-on-quarter. 2013 will be a good time to buy products, said 51 percent.

Beefing up their savings was a priority for 65 percent of the respondents, but the rate is two points off from the percentage recorded in the third quarter.

Filipinos' top concern is job security, followed by work/life balance, health, the economy, parents' welfare and happiness, and increasing utility bills.

The top global concern is the economy.

Optimism dropped in eight of 14 Asia-Pacific economies on the survey — a sign of "an increasingly polarized Asia-Pacific region," said Cambridge Group chief economist Venkatesh Bala, that divides the region into high-population economies with robust domestic consumption and developed markets that are more export-dependent that are therefore more exposed to volatile international fluctuations.

Global consumer confidence in the fourth quarter of 2012 fell slightly to 91 from 92 in the third quarter. — BM, GMA News

 

 

...the potential aerospace hub

PHL a potential aerospace manufacturing hub — AIAP

GMA News

October 24, 2012

 

 

The Philippines has the potential to be a center for manufacturing for the trillion-dollar global aerospace and aviation industry, an official of the Aerospace Industries Association of the Philippines said Wednesday.

According to AIAP board of trustees member John Lee, the next two decades could see the country becoming a manufacturing hub of aerospace and aviation parts and components in the ASEAN region, generating jobs and providing "meaningful career developments" in the country.

"The nature of manufacturing involved in aerospace products will entail highly skilled manpower that surely will facelift the capabilities of local labor to advanced stages of competence in varying degrees," he said.

Lee said the local aerospace industry is “a net export industry," with 99 percent of industrial output manufactured for export.

"[Aerospace] is a global extensive industry entailing over [$1 trillion in] business that will transform [into] highly beneficial gains for the country," he said.

Lee said that the manufacturing industry for aerospace is fast gaining momentum, bringing with it related industries in the supply chain as well as other backward and forward linkages of industries.

The aerospace industry projects a double-phased growth over the next five years, especially with the recent formation of the AIAP.

The association will focus on the build-up of the aerospace supply chain; the promotion of productive partnerships between buyers and suppliers; the enhancement of the business environment through the government’s policy reforms and the formulation of strong government support structures; and the improvement of the technical base capability through manpower education and training, and technology systems upgrading. — BM, GMA News

...the Korean perspective

Korean manufacturers eye Phl operations

 

 

By Louella Desiderio,

The Philippine Star

 10/20/2012

 

 

MANILA, Philippines - Korean manufacturers of construction equipment are looking at producing the equipment in the Philippines given the availability of manpower and the country’s geographical location.

 

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) – Korea Center Secretary General Hae Moon Chung told reporters on the sidelines of an investment forum that some Korean firms are interested in investing in the Philippines for the manufacture of excavators and other related equipment.

“These companies are interested in looking at the market for construction equipment and some are looking at producing equipment in the Philippines,” he said.

Some 14 Korean firms are part of an investment forum organized by the intergovernmental organization ASEAN-Korea Center, which seeks to increase trade and accelerate investment flows in the ASEAN and South Korea.

Chung however declined to identify the firms.

He said the Korean companies are looking at the Philippines given the availability of manpower here.

He said the Philippines’ geographical location makes it attractive since it is not very far from South Korea.

He noted though that the country, just like other members of the ASEAN, still lacks a developed manufacturing sector.

“Other than agricultural products, there is not much to export,” he said.

A developed manufacturing sector would allow the country to export more products to Korea and other markets.

Chung said the ASEAN-Korea Center intends to organize more business missions to help increase trade and investments between the two countries.

Since 2006, data from the ASEAN-Korea Center showed trade volume between the two countries has increased 1.8 times from $6.1 billion to $10.9 billion last year.

Korean investments to the Philippines meanwhile, has reached $885 million as of the first-semester.
Last year, investments made by Korean firms to the country amounted to $206 million.