CL establishments dominated by wholesale, retail trade

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO - The Wholesale and Retail Trade remains the dominant category among the number of business establishments in Central Luzon, the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed.

Based on PSA’s latest data on List of Establishments, Central Luzon listed a total of 103,329 enterprises, which is the third highest in the country after CALABARZON region with 137,808, and National Capital Region with 192,316 establishments.

Of the total number of establishments in the region, 47 percent of it or some 48,501 are classified under the Wholesale and Retail Trade category, which is the highest among all categories.

It was followed by Manufacturing Category with 13,367, while 11,179 were listed as belonging to the Accommodation and Food Service categories.

“The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) still expects a rise in the number of establishments this year as the construction industry is expected to continue to grow. In addition, the hosting of the region of many of the activities of the upcoming Southeast Asian Games is also expected to boost business in the region, especially near the Clark Freeport area,” said DTI Regional Director Judith Angeles.

In 2015, there were 101,176 business establishments in Central Luzon as listed by the PSA. This grew to 103,546 in 2016 and slightly decreased to 103,329 in 2017.

In 2018, the DTI-3 reported that it has assisted a total of 29,443 establishments throughout the region through its provincial offices providing services such as business advisory, trade fair assistance, export assistance, Shared Service Facility provision, product development, mentoring, financial linkage, market matching, training and other capacity building programs and types of assistance.