Taiwanese Investments Relocate In RP
January 16, 2013 at 16:13
Year 2012 was a good year for Taiwanese investors whose investments reached $400 million from $300 million in 2011 as more investors dismayed by the high cost of labor in China migrated into the Philippines.
MECO president and CEO Amadeo Perez Jr., in an interview with reporters that the Philippines has become the beneficiary of Taiwanese firms relocating from China because of the increasing cost of doing business there.
“The reason that we are able to come up with sizable investments is because lots of investors in mainland China want out because of stringent labor cost,” said Perez.
According to Perez, some of these disgruntled Chinese investors relocated to Vietnam but while they were able to get cheap labor, they were dissatisfied with the quality of Vietnamese labor.
In addition, Vietnam is also suffering from power supply shortage making it difficult for companies to operate continuously.
There were at least 16 Taiwanese firms that relocated into the Philippines in 2012, most of which chose the economic zones in Clark, Batangas, Cavite and Laguna as other ecozones in the country like Subic have been filled up already.
Perez even noted that three Taiwanese investors alone invested $100 million. All the Taiwanese investments are for the export market.
The new entrants, he said, are not into the electronics manufacturing that Taiwanese have been known for, but are into other export-oriented industries such as furniture making.
MECO will to continue its investment promotion this year noting that last year’s inflow was a result of high-profile missions led by Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L. Domingo and Philippine Economic Zone Authority director-general Lilia B. De Lima.
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Source: Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat, The Manila Bulletin, 13 January 2013
