Posted on 09:53 PM, January 24, 2010 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
MORE TAIWANESE investments into the Philippines -- particularly into the Subic freeport -- are expected this year as firms will take advantage of lower tariffs between China and Southeast Asia, an economic zone operator there claimed.
Already, seven new locators from the Chinese territory have committed to sink in $5.966 million for various manufacturing and warehousing operations, the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) -- the Philippines’ representative agency in Taiwan -- for its part said.
Subic should become more attractive to Taiwanese investors as trade between Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China was further liberalized after a round of tariff cuts last Jan. 1 under the ASEAN-China free trade agreement, Jeff Lin, president of the Subic Bay Development and Management Corp. (SBDMC) was quoted in the MECO statement as saying.
SBDMC, the operator of the 300-hectare Subic Bay Gateway Park, is a joint venture among the state-run Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and two Taiwanese developers.
Taiwanese firms facing anti-dumping restrictions in the US will be prodded to relocate their export operations into the Philippines, Mr. Lin said.
If so, the increase will be a turnaround from the 44.49% drop to $132.507 million seen in the January to September investment pledges to the Subic freeport, latest data show.
MECO, for its part, pointed to seven new locators that signed lease agreements with SBDMC in the last quarter of 2009.
Five of these will be investing in manufacturing operations: Richway Plastics’ $2.146-million plastic bag factory; Subic Advance Screw Inc.’s and Cano Subic Corp.’s screw and bolts factories worth $1.5 million and $330,000 respectively; Biddeford Subic Inc. medical equipment manufacturing facilitiy worth $880,000; and Tapu Corp.’s $330,000 stationery mill.
The remaining two, meanwhile, will be putting up warehouses for trading operations. -- Jessica Anne D. Hermosa
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