Top Story: Industries looking positive sans crisis

BY NELSON V CONSTANTINO, Editor
and BONG FABE, Contributor

AS the global financial meltdown gradually making a turn-around, local industries are confident the dawn for recovery is in the offing.

Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Industries (COCI) President Jerome Soldevilla said that while doing business will continue to remain tough, the prospects would be much better as the global economy is expected to improve a bit from the serious crunch experienced last year.

“[The current year will be] far better than 2009,” Soldevilla said.

Soldevilla, who is also communications officer of the STEAG State Power, Inc. which operates the coal-fired power plant in Villanueva town, said that results of a survey conducted among COCI members showed that the industries are giving a positive outlook for this year.

Established in 1980, the group serves as a mechanism to collectively address major concerns faced by the manufacturing sector.

Its members include Asia Brewery, CATIMCO, Coca-Cola, Del Monte Phils., LKKS Manufacturing, Nestle Phils., Phil Agro, PICMW, Pilipinas Kao, RI Chemicals, Mindanao Silicon, STEAG State Power Inc, and Elegant Chemical Alloy.

Major export processing plants such as the Philippine Sinter Corporation (PSC) and Mindanao Silicon Metals Inc. project at least a 10% increase in their outputs.

PSC’s Roger Lim said the sintering plant is also hopeful following reports of better global forecasts for the steel industry.

Moreover, RI Chemicals also reported that the company remains bullish as it sees a 10% hike in sales volume owing to a consistently strong domestic market.

Beverage giant Asia Brewery is also looking at a decent growth in production volume of its plant in Mindanao this year as it moves towards expanding its local market shares. It is confident to sustain the positive performance or even surpass production targets to a leap of 5 to 10% for this year.

In the wood processing industry, CATIMCO group indicates a major shift towards production of finished and semi-finished wood products as global competition worldwide gets stiffer.

CATIMCO group representative Prudencio Plaza said that the wood industry needs to innovate more as raw materials become scarce and the market expands to include the use of alternative construction materials.

Although sales volume for some companies paint a promising forecast, the manufacturing sector as a whole is faced with a serious concern of increased production cost.

Apollo Alavanza of Del Monte Philippines acknowledged that while there is a robust global market for its products, the company has to pursue more innovative measures to sustain its market leadership amidst rising cost of inputs. Cagayan de Oro based Coca-Cola bottlers Philippines also share the same view adding that it will continue to be more responsive to the growing market trends particularly in the beverage industry.

Limketkai Manufacturing executive Leoncio Ang of Limketkai said domestic supply of raw material for its Marca Leon oil products is a concern that needs to be addressed as the local coconut industry continues to be saddled with issues of low productivity.

COCI also voiced concerns on the rising cost of fuel and electricity. It has earlier approved a proposed resolution calling for a review of the planned privatization of the hydro electric power plants in Mindanao as the same is expected to increase further cost of electricity and hamper the manufacturing industries competitiveness. COCI is also asking local government units to suspend any planned increase in local taxations especially at this time when cost of doing business is continually on the rise.