Local pyrotechnics industry in a slump

STA. MARIA, Bulacan — The local fireworks industry is fizzling out.

According to manufacturers, budget constraints and smuggling are dousing water on the pyrotechnics industry in the country.

Neptali Guballa, chairman of the committee on product standards of the Philippine Pyrotechnics Manufacturers and Dealers Association Inc., (PPMDAI), said the situation has also led to a slump in production and sale of locally manufactured pyrotechnics.

Guballa said prices of materials for the manufacture of firecrackers and pyrotechnics have increased but the finished products are sold at relatively lower prices.

Guballa said the massive smuggling and importation of pyrotechnics from China caused a shift in sales, on top of the limited budget of Filipinos in celebrating the New Year.

"We understand the customers, because most of them would rather buy food for the table when the New Year comes instead of spending hard earned money to buy firecrackers," Guballa said.

Imported and smuggled pyrotechnics penetrated the local market two years ago, which contributed to the sharp decline in sales which eventually affected the livelihood of at least 100,000 workers in Bulacan alone.

In an earlier statement, the PPMDAI said imported pyrotechnics are allowed by law provided they are assembled locally.

But unscrupulous traders have been smuggling pyrotechnics into the country, flooding the local market with imported firecrackers.

PPMDAI president Vimie Erese said the smuggled products are virtually killing the local industry.

Erese said production of local manufacturers have dropped by at least 50 percent in the past two years, even selling pyrotechnics at low prices in the effort to bring back the market.

"Bagsak presyo talaga ngayon," (We have really brought down prices.) a local dealer from Bocaue said while noting the lack of buyers.

Erese said fireworks manufacturers had minimal orders this year from their dealers as compared in the past years.

Despite the situation, local manufacturers said "kwitis" and "sawa" remain their bestsellers.

Manufacturers also complained of the "unusual operations" by the police.

The PPMDAI pointed out the local pyrotechnics industry is under the Civil Security Group of the Firearms and Explosive Division of the Philippine National Police (PNP), and yet pyrotechnics dealers seemed to attract almost every law enforcement unit at this time of year.

Sources said even some operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) wanted to cash in by raiding suspected illegal imported pyrotechnics.

But local dealers said the NBI should go to Divisoria and Ongpin in Manila, the known center of smuggled pyrotechnics.