Aircon giant Daikin hot on Philippines prospects

MANILA, Philippines — The local arm of Japanese airconditioning giant Daikin sees strong potential to expand its operations in the Philippines amid the push for energy efficiency and opportunities for upgrades in the residential segment.

In an interview during the company’s launch of its South Luzon office over the weekend, Japanese Daikin Airconditioning Philippines Inc. president Takayoshi Miki said the Philippine market has big potential because of its economic growth and growing population.

“Among ASEAN countries, the Philippine market is also big and the potential is also big. Population is over 100 million – very big population. And the economy is growing, with gross domestic product (GDP) at six percent. This is very remarkable, outstanding among ASEAN countries,” he said.

The Philippine economy grew by 6.4 percent in the first quarter and 4.3 percent in the second quarter, bringing the average economic growth in the first semester to 5.3 percent.

Meanwhile, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed total population is estimated to be 115 million.

For this year, Daikin Philippines sees sales growing by at least 20 percent.

“Our residential sales increased. Also most of the suspended projects started, a lot of the commercial and industrial customers are coming to us which presents very good opportunities for us,” Miki said.

The company official said the sales growth forecast would be supported by the country’s push to develop townships and smart cities.

“I know that Philippine government is urging city development, smart cities or townships. We’re going to introduce our most advanced, energy savings systems to those buildings in townships especially since the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is a very good market for us,” Miki said.

Moreover, the government is also accelerating energy efficiency and conservation (EE&C) across sectors – a good opportunity for Daikin Philippines to tap into.

“The Department of Enery (DOE) is introducing energy efficient systems. Some of the local city is going to adopt green building code. We’re going to work with DOE and LGUs to introduce our more energy savings and advanced systems,” Miki said.

On the residential sector, the company has a lot of room to grow as most Filipinos are still accustomed to using window-type airconditioners whereas other countries are phasing out or have started to phase out this technology.

Miki said the window-type airconditioners are old technology and split-type units are more energy efficient leading to better savings for consumers.

However, window-type units are offered at a cheaper rate in retail, making it a preferrable option for Filipinos.

“There is no window-type aircon in other countries, only the Philippines. So we’re going to introduce more energy savings, split-type inverter aircons at reasonable prices with good installation services. Window-type is cheap, but actual demand, electrical bill is higher. If consumers become aware of how our inverters are better than window-type, it’s a good opportunity to expand the market,” Miki said.