DXHIC, a 25-year-old company based in Guangdong, China, is opening a bag manufacturing factory in the Philippines in the third quarter of 2023, the Department of Trade and Industry said Tuesday.
Top executives of DXHIC relayed this to DTI Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo at the sidelines of the 2023 ASEAN-China Greater Bay Area (Qianhai) Economic Cooperation Forum.
Rodolfo, joined by Philippine Ambassador to China Jaime Flor-Cruz, Philippine Consul General to Guangzhou Marshall Louis Alferez and officials from the Philippine Trade and Investment Centers in Guangzhou and Beijing, lauded the Chinese company which supplies for top international brands for its business confidence in the Philippines as an ideal manufacturing location in ASEAN.
Sloan Shao, one of the investors for the soon-to-be opened Good Manufacturing PH Leathers Inc. in Subic said the locational advantage of the Philippines at the heart of the ASEAN and proximity to the China Greater Bay Area, along with the country’s dependable workforce, were the key reasons for their decision to expand their global footprint in the Philippines.
The Chinese company intends to export bags from their new facility in Subic to clients overseas including those in Europe. It expects to employ around 1,200 Filipinos by end-2023. The Subic facility, although labor-intensive, will also feature some top-of-the line equipment to ensure fine quality demanded by the luxury accessories market.
Shao said the Chinese company forecasts hiring up to 5,000 employees in the Philippines in the medium term.
The Philippines has been a beneficiary of the European Union’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) and the European Free Trade Agreement.
DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual led a mission to the European Union in June to push for the resumption of talks for the Philippines-EU Free Trade Agreement. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen jointly announced recently the start of the scoping discussions towards a bilateral FTA.
Rodolfo also encouraged business people, academics and local leaders attending the Qianhai Economic Cooperation Forum to continue the good track record of cooperation between China Greater Bay Area and ASEAN.
He said Greater Bay Area companies could help with the Philippines’ “industrial transformation through science, technology and innovation,” especially as the country positions itself as ASEAN’s regional hub for smart manufacturing and services, attracting sectors such as renewable energy, telecommunications infrastructure, hyperscale data centers, green metal processing, electric vehicle battery and assembly, smart manufacturing and agriculture.
China ranked as the Philippines’ top trading partner in 2022, with data showing that total trade between both countries rose 2.32 percent to $39.14 from $38.25B in 2021.