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Friday, March 29, 2024

Bataan ecozone gets P107-b investments

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The Freeport Area of Bataan received P107 billion worth of investments from foreign and local  companies over the last six years, the agency in charge of the freeport said Tuesday.

Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan chairman and administrator Deogracias Custodio said the agency in 2016 aimed to attract P7 billion worth of investments, slightly higher than P6.23 billion it generated in 2015.

“This has made AFAB the fastest growing freeport in the country from 2012 to 2015 in terms of foreign direct investments and number of locators to the industrial zone,” he said in a news briefing Tuesday in Makati City.

Investments in 2015 included the P2.2-billion capacity expansion of San Miguel Foods Inc.’s B-Meg plant and the P2.6-billion site expansion of the E-Fare Investment Holdings Inc.’s industrial park, a San Miguel Corp. subsidiary.

The 2015 investments increased the number of FAB locators by 14 percent to 114 from 98 in 2014, while employment within the freeport also increased by 28.9 percent to 25,803 employees from 20,017 in 2014.

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Employment rate in Central Luzon increased to 93.9 percent in October 2015 from 92.6 in October 2014 while unemployment rate decreased from 7.4 percent to 6.2 percent during the same period, basically because of the trickle effects of the increasing presence of manufacturers inside FAB, according to the agency.

AFAB said in the first three months of 2016, it approved P1.984 billion worth of investment pledges.  The agency expects a big ticket expansion project by an existing business process outsourcing company this year.

Exports from locators in the freeport reached $526.6 million in 2015, up by 35.1 percent from $389.7 billion in 2014. Cumulative exports from 2010 to 2015 amounted to $2.33 billion.

FAB’s top exporters are Mitsumi Phils. Inc, FCF Manufacturing Corp., Essilor Manufacturing, Desk Top Bags Phils. Inc., Dong-In Sunbirds Inc., East Cam-Tech Corp., Dunlop Slazenger Inc., Mountaineering Instruments Corp., DI Dawn Manufacturing Corp. and Dong-In Entech K1 Inc.

Total exports of these companies amounted to $454.8 million, or about 86 percent of the total export in 2015.

Most of these companies are into shoes and bags manufacturing, while Mitsumi, a manufacturer of electronic products, topped the list with $203.7 million worth of exports or about 39 percent.

FAB is the merging fashion manufacturing hub of the Philippines with a cluster of companies producing high-end branded garments, bags shoes and accessories.

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