New investments to boost Phl electronics industry

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippines expects a robust growth in the  electronics sectors in the next couple of years with  new investments pouring in.

Board of Investments (BOI) managing head Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. said that new investments in electronic projects will boost the production and hike exports in the coming years.

Cristobal, who is also the undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) mentioned few of the new investments in electronics that recently opened plants in the Philippines, which include; Fujifilm Optics Philippines, a subsidiary of Fujifilm Japan for the manufacture of high-performance lenses for digital cameras, projectors and CCTV (surveillance cameras); Philippine Manufacturing Co., of Murata, manufacturer of electronics products; Brother Industries (Philippines) to manufacture printers; Furukawa Automotive Systems Lima Philippines, Inc., for electronics products; and Knowles Electronics (Philippines) Corp., manufacturer of audio devices for hearing aids and mobile/consumer products which recently opened a facility in Cebu.

Philippine electronics industry accounts for 49.46 percent of the country’s total exports.

Largely driven by Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), it is made up of over 700 firms, about 75 percent of which are foreign-owned.

The sector utilizes technology brought in by FDIs and exports products to markets of the multinational companies.

Meanwhile, Cristobal added that the Philippine companies in other sectors like food (Jollibee and Oishi has a large presence in China) have integrated production networks in the region.

He said a significant part of our economic growth is driven by the integration of several sectors of the country’s economy to Southeast Asia and East Asia.

“This can be seen in the trend of our trade and investment figures for the past decade. Until fairly recently, our traditional partners and sources for investments were mainly the U.S and Europe. This has been changing. About 60 percent of our trade today is with ASEAN states, China, Japan and Korea. At the BOI and PEZA, we can see a similar trend in investment commitments,” Cristobal added.

He said these developments in business strategies and production networks, along with regional trade agreements are the driving forces of regional economic integration.

“We have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the member states of ASEAN, and through ASEAN, with China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India. We also have a bilateral FTA with Japan. These dynamics compel the Philippines to ensure that we support efforts towards regional economic integration, and gear up our own industries,” he stressed.  

The President has also announced, together with the ASEAN Leaders last year that the Philippines will participate in the RCEP or the regional comprehensive economic partnership negotiations. (FREEMAN)