Local firms eye strategic partners in Asean

The rising demand for wireless communications devices, notebook computers, and a variety of products that enable Internet connectivity will most likely drive the growth of the electronics industry in the Philippines, according to Arthur Tan, president of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI).

"This trend favors Philippine-based semiconductor companies producing digital signal processors or DSPs and analog integrated circuits (IC), storage device and mobile handset, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and electronics manufacturing service (EMS) providers catering to these segments," explained Tan.

Global sales of DSPs, added Tan, are projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of over 16 percent until 2009 due to the continued increase in demand for mobile phones. "For Philippine-based companies, there are plenty of outsourcing opportunities from OEMs in the automotive, medical, and industrial electronics segments."

Electronics make up the major bulk of Philippine exports. In 2005, Philippine electronics exports reached US billion. The Philippine produces 100 percent of Nokia's DSPs and 80% of Siemen's and Ericsson's under Texas Instruments that is based in the Philippines for three decades.

Likewise, the Philippines supplies 50 percent of the world's requirements for hard disk drives from top 3 global suppliers: Fujitsu, Toshiba, and Hitachi.

In the forthcoming ASEAN Electronics Business Opportunities Exhibition and Conference (AE-BOEC) and reverse trade fair (7 December, Makati Shangri-La), Philippine-based companies look forward to partnering with other companies in the Asean, as well as attract potential investors.

Other exhibitors in AE-BOEC are companies from Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Cambodia. Expected delegations to the exhibit are members of the British Trade and Investment Center and Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency.

Reports said that most electronics buyers are adopting a 'China plus' strategy instead of relying heavily on China for its electronics requirements. As such, countries like the Philippines stand to benefit from the strategy.

The Philippines has established a solid reputation in electronics manufacturing. Large multinational and semiconductor companies and homegrown EMS providers have served global demand for many years. Every year, the country produces 72 million magnetic heads, 36 million DSPs, 30 million hard disk drives or HDDS, 11 million liquid crystal display units (LCDs), and 8 million optical disk drives (ODDs).

Some of the global electronics companies in the Philippines are Intel, Texas Instruments, and Philips. Three of the largest HDD producers in the Philippines are Hitachi, Fujitsu, and Toshiba.

"Developing our competency is the top priority of the industry. We aim to upgrade the skills of Filipino engineers to meet the industry's requirements, and elevate the industry to higher value activities to retain and attract investments," said Tan.

Together with the government and the academe, SEIPI established the Advanced Research and Competency Development Institute to provide training and competency development support for the industry.

SEIPI has identified seven key program for the country's electronics and semiconductors industry for 2006-2007: competency development, allied and support industry development, retention of existing companies and attraction of new companies, values formation and cultural transformation, government advocacy, organizational improvement, and focused marketing of the country industry in the US, Europe, Japan, and Asia.

Source:

BUSINESS.BALITA.PH
Nov, 27, 2006 (Monday)

Eleven large ASEAN electronic companies to gather in Manila

Eleven ASEAN multinational and homegrown electronic companies will gather in the ASEAN Electronics Business Opportunities Exhibition and Conference (AE-BOEC) on 07 December at the Makati Shangri-La.

P.T. Toshiba Consumer Products (Indonesia), LKT Industrial Berhad (Malaysia), Venture Corporation, Ltd. (Singapore), Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Thailand), Vietnam Electronics Industry Association (VEIA), Texas Instruments Philippines, Inc., Sharp Philippines, and Panasonic (ASEAN) will present their procurement programs at the ASEAN-Business Opportunities Conference, as well as showcase their products, parts, and supplies they intend to procure from the ASEAN region in the ASEAN Reverse Trade Fair (AE-RTF).

Also joining the AE-RTF are PSI Technologies, Inc., Amkor Technology Philippines, Inc., and ON Semiconductor Philippines, Inc.

“In the ASEAN Reverse Trade Fair, suppliers can walk through a host of multinational electronic companies in the ASEAN,” said Assistant Trade Secretary and CITEM Executive Director Fe Agoncillo-Reyes. “This unique scenario is expected to facilitate tie-ups, business ventures, and joint undertakings during the one-on-one business meetings arranged during the fair,” added Agoncillo- Reyes.

Countries like Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand will feature their investment scenario to encourage investors to do business ventures or establish joint undertakings within the ASEAN region.

The event is expected to bring in delegates from the British Trade and Investment Center, Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency, Association of Electronics Industries in Singapore, and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation.

“AE-BOEC is the ASEAN’s first initiative to fast track the integration of the region’s electronics sectors by facilitating and promoting intra-ASEAN investments, improving the condition and retaining manufacturing and other economic activities in the region,” said Agoncillo-Reyes. The event is foreseen to promote intra-ASEAN trade and increase outsourcing through a single production and supply base for all electronic products.

The AE-BOEC is organized by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the trade promotion arm of the Department of Trade and Industry, and in cooperation with the Board of Investments (BOI) Business Development Team for Electronics, the ASEAN Electronics Forum, and Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI).

According to the ASEAN Secretariat Report, intra-ASEAN total trade in 2005 reached US$163.7 billion from US$141.3 billion in 2004.

In the field of electronics, Malaysian electronics industry accounts for around 60% of the country's manufacturing exports and is the leading industrial sector in terms of investment, industrial output and employment. Indonesia represents under 1% of global electronics output and a similar share of the market. Components represent the largest share of output, followed by consumer electronics computing. On the other hand, the electronics industry in the Philippines is dominated by components and computing, the two segments accounting for 87% of the country's electronics output, and is dominated by foreign-owned multinationals who accounted for an estimated 80% of electronics exports.

Production of computer equipment accounts for 48% of total electronics output in Singapore and a major factor in the country accounting for 8% of global electronics output. Thailand 's electronics industry, like many Asian countries, is supported by overseas investment. Computing and components are the highest electronics production of the country.

Philippine firms post $1.98M in sales at Tokyo food fair

PHILIPPINE companies made $1.98 million in sales at the ASEAN Food and Beverage fair in Tokyo last month, making up six percent of the $31 million Southeast Asian exhibitors made, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) reported.

The sales, up 151 percent from $785,682 chalked up by Philippine exhibitors at last year’s expo, placed the Philippines sixth among the 10 participating members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in terms of sales generated, said CITEM, a unit of the Departmentof Trade and Industry.

The expo had 32 T small- and medium-sized enterprises participating. Three were from the Philippines:namely, GEM Foods International, which makes nata decoco and macapuno strings; Toscana Food Industry, producer of “dilis” fish and squid; and J. Emmanuel Pastries, maker of pili nut delicacies.

Trade and Industry Assistant Secretary Felicitas Agoncillo-Reyes, CITEM executive director, said the three companies were at 103 of 700 trade meetings held at the expo, which was organized by the ASEAN Japan Center.

Reyes said that the Philippine participants were compliant with the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point(HACCP) standards and well informed about export procedures.

She said Gem Foods closed deals with Singapore’s ASimple Life restaurant group, which includes Fish &Co., on supply of coco cream for a special noodle dish called “laksa.”

Toscano Food caught the attention of Singapore-based Tong Garden, which specializes in nuts and party snacks, and which expressed interest in Philippine goodies in its product line-up, Reyes said.

A Malaysian confectionery company offered to team upwith J. Emmanuel Pastries on the use pili nuts as new ingredient for chocolate products and other sweets.

Citing data showed that Japan imports 60 percentof its food supply worth $44 billion.

Philippine exporters should increase efforts to tap overseas markets and promote uniquely Filipino products.


-Ronnel Domingo INQ7.net
INQ Interactive, Inc.

Chinese schools interested to engage in MOU with RP

Chinese educational institutions expressed their interest to engage in memoranda of agreement (MOU) with the Philippines to facilitate the recruitment of Chinese students to the country, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) reported following the Philippine participation at the China Education Expo (CEE) recently.

MOU are legal documents describing the bilateral agreement between China and Philippines regarding the student-contracting program. Through this mutual recognition, Philippines will partner with local Chinese universities, agents, and overseas advising centers to recruit legitimate students who wish to study in the country.

According to Dean Enrico Hilario of the Technological University of the Philippines (TUP), their participation in CEE was a big success since their school was able to create MOU with several institutions like Yantai Vocational College and China Cultural Affairs. The former agreed to send around 20 Chinese nationals to the state university to study bachelor degree courses like information technology and mechanical engineering, while the latter signed a memorandum stating that they will send an instructor to teach Chinese language to the TUP faculty for free.

Other participants that joined the Philippine delegation in CEE were Enderun Colleges Inc., New England College, and the Royal Institute of Higher Education Inc. (RIHED).

“Although much work is still required for MOUs to generate business for the Philippine schools, the results could increase the market profile of our country and thus, bring long-term existence in the vast China market,” said Trade Assistant Secretary Fe Agoncillo-Reyes, executive director of CITEM.

The huge education market in China, which is approximately US$72 billion (or RMB580 billion), is the result of several factors such as its favorable demographic trends, rapid economic growth, and the increasing importance of higher education and English proficiency for career development and advancement.

The growing trend toward urbanization is expected to make Chinese citizens recognize that higher education leads to greater rewards in terms of income and job opportunities. As stated in China Demographics Yearbook, China has eight cities each with a population of four million, 50 cities each with over one million inhabitants, and 131 cities with more than 500, 000 people.

Furthermore, as the US$ 2.2 trillion China economy continues to follow the globalization trend, Chinese education authorities place greater emphasis on international education exchanges, including permitting large numbers of young Chinese to study abroad at their own expense or thru the government.

“There is a substantial demand for overseas education in China,” Agoncillo-Reyes added. “Other countries have increasingly recognized the opportunities in the market, even non-English speaking nations are actively promoting in China, so the Philippines with its acknowledged edge in English should not be left behind.”

CEE, the largest and most prestigious education fair in China, is officially sponsored by China’s Ministry of Education and is organized by the China Education Association for International Exchange. This year, 450 overseas schools, training centers, professional associations, and other education service providers from 30 nations all over the world participated in the said event.

The Philippine participation in the CEE is organized by CITEM, the export promotions agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.

UK companies to make the Philippines their alternative outsourcing hub

As more European firms open up to outsourcing as a viable business venture, they are now trying to follow what their counterparts in the United States have been doing favorably – send critical business processing work to offshore destinations like the Philippines.

In the recently concluded government-organized e-Services Philippines trade mission to Europe, Philippine IT/BPO companies generated substantial leads and an estimated US$3.15 million sales in business deals, according to the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the export promotions arm of the Department of Trade and Industry.

“Nine major companies from Europe are currently in negotiations to do offshore work here. One of these is a giant Dutch company who decided to locate a shared services center in Manila because of our business and cultural affinity with the West and English-proficient workforce,” said Trade Assistant Secretary Fe Agoncillo-Reyes, executive director of CITEM.

Based in a Forrester Research Report, offshore service spending in Western Europe will grow from EUR 1.1 billion in 2004 to EUR 3.6 billion in 2009, with the UK accounting for 76% of that amount. In the Schengen states, the Netherlands is one of the most open economies to outsourcing.

“The Philippines hopes to benefit from the growth of shared services centers (SSC) for multinational companies and niche on more specialized back office functions related to software, F&A as well as HR and supply management,” added Agoncillo-Reyes.

In fact, Philippine companies, according to Agoncillo-Reyes, are well positioned to take advantage of the demand for more sophisticated services, leading to knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and global solutions delivery as shown in the trade inquiries we received in the mission.

The Philippine participants in the Europe mission were: Alliance Technologies (contact center/BPO technology enabler); BlastAsia (web-based applications, custom/packaged applications); DTSI (contact center/BPO technology enabler), IAMD Software Solutions (website development, animation); Logicall Inc. (contact center); RG Financial Services (financial & accounting services); ADEC Solutions (diversified BPO services); Innove Communications (telecommunications); PLDT (telecommunications); Pointwest Technologies (custom/packaged development); and Vinta Software (custom/packaged development).

Through the mission, the government likewise extended invitations for foreign delegations to
e-Services Philippines (15-16 February 2007), the country’s annual platform for IT and BPO. The delegates also met with EU associations Intellect Group, IAOP London, Rapier Group London, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Netherlands, and ICT Office in The Netherlands.

Following the mission, the Philippines was also nominated in the UK’s National Outsourcing Association (NOA) Awards for Best Practices. NOA is an independent body in the United Kingdom that promotes best practices, service, and innovation in outsorucing.

“As the world becomes flatter with the outsourcing trend, the challenge for the Philippines is to continue to move up the value chain and intensify the promotion of the Philippines as a viable location for specific verticals such as F&A, HR, and administration processing,” said Agoncillo-Reyes.

For more information on the Philippine trade and investment mission, please contact CITEM’s IT Services and Electronics Division at (+632) 8325044 and (+632) 8312201 locals 212, 251, and 301, email itservices@citem.com.ph or visit the website www.e-servicesphils.com/europe2006