SHENZHEN, CHINA – DXHIC, a twenty-five-year-old Dongguan-based company in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong is expanding its presence in the Southeast Asian region with the opening of its newest bag manufacturing facility in the Philippines slated in the third quarter of 2023.
This was shared by top company officials of DXHIC at the sidelines of the 2023 ASEAN-China Greater Bay Area (Qianhai) Economic Cooperation Forum during their business meeting with The Department of Trade and industry (DTI) Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo, who was in the Chinese tech-hub, Shenzhen City, to join other high-level ASEAN trade and science and technology officials.
Undersecretary Rodolfo, who was joined by Philippine Ambassador to China Jaime Flor-Cruz, Philippine Consul General to Guangzhou Marshall Louis Alferez, and officials from the Philippine Trade and Investment Centers (PTIC) in Guangzhou and Beijing, lauded the Chinese company which supplies for top international brands, for its business confidence in the Philippines as an ideal manufacturing location in ASEAN.
Mr. Sloan Shao, one of the investors for the soon-to-be opened Good Manufacturing PH Leathers Inc. in Subic said that the locational advantage of the Philippines being situated at the heart of the ASEAN and proximate to the China Greater Bay Area, along with the country’s dependable work force were the key reasons for their decision to expand their global footprint in the Philippines.
The Chinese company intends to eventually export bags from their new facility in Subic to their clients including those from Europe.
The Philippines has been a beneficiary of the European Union’s (EU) Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) and the European Free Trade Agreements (EFTA).
DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual led a mission to the European Union last June to push for the resumption of talks for the Philippines-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA). President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen jointly announced recently the start of the scoping discussions towards a bilateral FTA.
Around 1200 Filipinos are initially expected to be employed by the company by the end of this year. The Subic facility, although labor-intensive will also feature some top-of-the line equipment to ensure fine quality demanded by the luxury accessories market. Over the medium-term, Mr. Shao said that the Chinese company forecasts hiring up to 5000 employees in the Philippines in the future.
Meanwhile, Undersecretary Rodolfo also encouraged business people, academics, and local leaders attending the Qianhai Economic Cooperation Forum to continue the good track record of cooperation between China Greater Bay Area, and ASEAN.
He emphasized that Greater Bay Area companies can help with the Philippines’ “industrial transformation through science, technology and innovation,” especially as the country positions itself as ASEAN’s regional hub for smart manufacturing and services, attracting sectors such as renewable energy, telecommunications infrastructure, hyperscale data centers, green metal processing, electric vehicle battery and assembly, smart manufacturing, and agriculture.
In 2022, China ranked as the Philippines’ top trading partner with data showing that total trade between both countries in 2022 was up by 2.32% to USD39.14 from USD38.25B in 2021. ♦
Date of release: 11 August 2023
