Asahi Glass leaves RP for Thailand

Asahi Glass Philippines (AGP) is terminating its local manufacturing operations for tempered automotive glass even as President Arroyo yesterday visited its plant in Barrio Pinagbuhatan in Pasig City.

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said that AGP is transferring its production of tempered automotive glass to Thailand as part of its regional alignment.

"AGP also decided to transfer its local operations to Thailand due the low capacity utilization of its local plants," Roxas added.

AGP supplies about 80 percent of the tempered glass requirement of local automotive manufacturers.

The local automotive industry is experiencing a slowdown in demand with total vehicle sales reaching only 86,000 units last year.

AGP has been utilizing less than 50 percent of its total capacity output of 200,000 units of tempered glass windshields.

With the effectivity of the ASEAN Free Trade Area-Common Effective Preferential Tariff (AFTA-CEPT) scheme, the tariff on imported tempered glass is now down to three percent.

Previously, AGP indicated that if it could only achieve economies of scale to at least break even, it would not stop its local production of tempered automotive glass.

AGP was formerly known as Republic Asahi Glass Corp. following the merger of Republic Glass Corp. with Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. of Japan.

Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. is the world’s leading flat glass producer with annual sales of $12 billion and a global work force of 50,000.

AGP alone employs about 700 workers in the Philippines. – Marianne Go