P6-B manufacturing projects ok’d by BOI

THE Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) recently approved three expansion projects in the manufacturing sector with a combined investment amount of P6.95 billion.

BOI approved Metalcast Corp.’s P100 million project as an expanding producer of aluminum die cast parts for motorcycle and automotive parts along with the Php2.86 billion project of Philippine Resin Industries, Inc. (PRII) for the manufacture of suspension type polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins and the P3.99 billion project of San Miguel Yamamura Asia Corp. (SMYAC) as an expanding producer of glass containers.

“The influx of these expansion projects is expected to sustain the growth momentum of manufacturing from last year as the sector posted robust growth in terms of investments to meet not only the strong domestic demand but also to fuel the export growth of the sector,” Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said.

He noted these projects capitalized on the momentum of the surge of manufacturing investments recorded by the BOI in 2017 to P96 billion, up 95 percent from P49.3 billion in 2016.

The P100 million expansion of Metalcast Corp. involves the installation of additional facilities and equipment and will boost the existing 2,850-ton capacity with an additional production of 1800 tons a year in its existing plant in Carmona, Cavite. Formal operations has already begun in January 2018 with an additional 75 personnel to support the facility.

Domestic clients of Metalcast include automotive and motorcycle assemblers located at the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. At least 60 percent of its production are for exports to major automotive clients in Thailand and Japan.

PRII’s P2.86 billion expansion in its plant in Mariveles, Batan meanwhile will provide an additional 120,000 metric tons (MT) to its current 100,000 MTPY capacity. Formal operation is expected to start January 2019.

The firm will be employing a state-of-theart technology acquired through a licensing agreement with Japanbased Tosoh Corporation which is one the largest chemical and specialty materials companies in Asia. The technology is expected to introduce various improvements in the production of resins with breakthrough patented processes resulting in reduced batch cycle time and polymerization time. The expansion will focus mainly on producing K65 resin grades which are used by its clients in the production of pipes and accounts for nearly 60 percent of its market. It can also produce other grades depending on demand.

SMYAC on the other hand is investing P3.99 billion in the construction of a new building and the installation of a new glass facility in a 32,000 square meter lot in its existing plant in Imus, Cavite. The expansion project will utilize the latest machinery and equipment in the glass manufacturing industry with some tech-

nological innovations/improvements to its existing facility. The project will have a production capacity of 92,517 MT to complement the firm’s existing 145,701 MTPY capacity. It will be capable of producing all kinds of container glasses with sizes ranging from 45ml to 1250ml.

The expansion of SMYAC aims to address the increasing demand for glass packaging products in the country and export markets.