Trade Undersecretary and Board of Investments (BOI) Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo recently met with executives from the Polish company Pietrucha to discuss its newly-established production facility at the Freeport Area of Bataan in Mariveles.
“Our consistent economic and governance reforms as well as competitive costs of doing business and labor have greatly improved investor confidence. We are confident that this significant investment in the manufacturing will create more stable and decent jobs and sustain the upward momentum of the Philippine economy,” Undersecretary Rodolfo said.
The plastics manufacturer is the first Polish company to establish a production facility in the Philippines which will produce high-strengthened polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic sheet piles. Together with its local partner Design Science Inc., the company has started initial operations in June 2016 and is expected to be fully operational in September 2016.
Rodolfo said that the establishment of the facility will not only meet the growing demand of the domestic market but also unlock our country’s potential in securing a significant slice of the regional and global manufacturing market. “Catering to the needs of both local and foreign markets will position the Philippines as a manufacturing hub for the ASEAN region as well as a preferred source and destination of investments,” he added.
In the Philippines, the petrochemicals industry anchors the country’s industrial development and centers around the production of plastic resins, which are used as inputs to the downstream plastics industry to form different products. It provides robust multiplier effects on other main sectors of the economy such as construction, electronics and computer, transportation and automotive, and telecommunications, among others.
Aside from manufacturing, Rodolfo said that the group’s project also has an engineering design component which can utilize the country’s pool of highly-skilled professionals and well-educated workers; and take advantage of Bataan’s power costs which is cheaper than the national average.
BOI has been continuously carrying out programs and projects geared to entice additional investments, acquire appropriate technology, and increase the capacity of the petrochemical industry to provide a formidable and sustainable backbone to Philippine industrialization.
It has also been extending its support to the petrochemical industry through the inclusion in the Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) listing, wherein registered firms are entitled to fiscal and non-fiscal incentives provided that their registered activity/ies satisfies the requirements and conditions set by the administering Investment Promotion Agency (IPA).
The industry accounts for 2.2 percent of the manufacturing industry’s revenues and is expected to obtain more than US$ 2 billion-worth of investments with 895,000 metric tons per year total capacity in polymer production.