Thai firm hoping to ride PHL growth with plant launch by Q4

THAI construction materials company Shera PCL Ltd. said it hopes to start operations in the Philippines by the fourth quarter to grab a share of the country’s growing construction industry.

On the sidelines of the Philippine World Building and Construction Expo, Thunnop Jumpasri, Shera’s country head for the Philippines, said such an investment will be the company’s first outside Thailand.

“The construction industry of the Philippines I think registered the highest growth among ASEAN countries and we have seen a lot of potential of the products here in the Philippines,” Mr. Jumpasri said.

“I think the outlook and the projection for Philippine gross domestic product this year is around 6-7% and normally the construction industry grows (at the same rate as) the economy,” he said.

The company’s first plant outside of Thailand will be located in Teco Industrial Park in Mabalacat, Pampanga and is registered with the Board of Investments.

“We plan to finish the construction of the factory within this year. The total investment is around P2 billion for the whole factory,” he added.

Initially, the factory is planned for output of 100,000 tons of fiber cement board, expandable later to 200,000 tons.

Once operational, the plant is expected to take on 120-150 employees, more than 90% of which will be local hires.

“We intend to recruit Filipinos for more than 90% of our workforce because we see that they have the capability and skill that are suited for our operations. And this will not only be for our facilities team; even our commercial team is composed of Filipinos,” Mr. Jumpasri said.

Shera has been present in the Philippines for over 15 years. The Philippines is its biggest market outside Thailand, followed by Vietnam and Indonesia.

Last year, the company booked P1.5 billion in sales in the Philippines, with expectations of sales growth of 10-15% this year. —