|
Tuesday, July 23, 2002
Garment firms in Mactan think of moving to China
By Jessica B. Natad/Cherry T. Lim
IF the government does not improve the incentives given to the garment- manufacturing sector, the Philippines will lose the garment investors to China by 2004.
According to Cebu Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce president Filomeno Lim, all Taiwanese garment companies in the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) are already contemplating relocating to China by the year 2004.
He added that China’s cheap garment and other products are gradually killing the country’s manufacturing sector, as most traders in the country are now opting to import goods from China.
“As traders, we have to find cheaper sources of our products. So we import na lang from China, as well as other countries like Malaysia and Thailand. If we want to become competitive with China, we have to change our incentives (for our locally manufactured products to be able to compete in terms of price with those from China),” Lim said.
He said most traders used to source their products locally.
The local garment industry earlier expressed its difficulty in competing with cheap imported garments from China including the smuggled ones.
“These have been slowly killing the industry,” said Cebu Garment Industry Association president Minerva Yuvienco.
Fast growing
China, considered one of the fastest-growing economies, captured 70 percent of the $60 billion invested in Asia last year. The remaining 30 percent was distributed to the remaining countries in the region, Lim said.
In a separate forum, Board of Investments (BOI) Gov. Geronimo Sta. Ana acknowledged the complaints raised by MEZ locators.
“Those MEZ companies that want to relocate, we must have a dialogue with them,” he said.
Power costs
He said while it was true that China had very low labor costs relative to the costs in the Philippines, President Arroyo was already addressing the problem of high power costs.
After Arroyo dealt with the purchased power adjustment issue, the Philippines’ power cost now ranks sixth highest in Asia, compared to second highest, after Japan, in the past, said BOI Managing Head Gregory Domingo.
Last week, Dr. Efren Valiente, former president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president, said the country could not hope to attract more foreign investors if it could not keep its existing investors happy first.
Complaints
He cited investors’ common complaints as the declining educational standards of Filipinos; poor standards of health care, housing and garbage collection; infrastructure not keeping up with industry’s needs, peace and order; and personality-oriented politics.
To arrest the decline in investor interest in the country, another former CCCI president, Sabino Dapat, suggested that government, including the BOI, be decentralized to give local stakeholders more power “to promote and manage their business.”
He also asked that investors be protected “from the hassles of other government offices and politicians.”
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
