Foreign investment pledges surge 249%

Thai firm’s P2.2-B project tops February list

Thailand ranked highest among the Philippines’ top investors for February 2012 with Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Foods Phils. Corp.’s (CP Foods) aqua feed production project in Bataan, according to the Board of Investments.

Investment commitments from foreign investors surged 249 percent in February this year to P3.22 billion from only P924 million during the same month last year, boosted largely by sustained confidence in the Philippine economy.

In a statement issued Friday, the Board of Investments (BoI) said Thailand ranked highest among the Philippines’ top investors for February with investments amounting to P2.2 billion, followed by Japan with pledges amounting to P703 million and different nationalities including Taiwanese and Americans with a combined P182 million.

“Our February figures show more jobs for every peso of investments. The projects are expected to generate 3,250 jobs once operational, an increase of 24 percent compared to 2,335 projected jobs for February 2011 approvals,” said Adrian Cristobal Jr., trade undersecretary and BoI managing head.

Key investment projects approved were the aqua feed production project in Bataan of Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Foods Phils. Corp. (CP Foods); Toyota Motor Philippines’s production of the Vios model at its Laguna plant; Quadriver Energy Corp.’s hydroelectric power-generation project in Bohol; the Zanorte palm-rubber plantation in Zamboanga; and Pueblo de Oro Development Corp.’s venture in Batangas.

CP Foods, a major transnational conglomerate in Thailand’s agribusiness industry, will construct a modern aqua feeds plant with an annual capacity of 114, 000 metric tons. The approved project will help supply aqua feeds for the local aquaculture and fisheries industries. It will also source raw materials from local and foreign suppliers and will need local supply utilities.

The Zanorte project is expected to harness the potential of rubber as a new growth industry in the country. Initial target buyers for dried rubber are Dunlop, Bridgestone and Yokohama.

The approved Toyota project will strengthen the country’s foothold in the production of compact sedans. SME suppliers are also expected to benefit from the project through Toyota’s cluster development program “Big Enterprise Small Enterprise” where the Japanese firm monitors and cascades supply development programs to SMEs.

The February approvals brought total investment commitments from foreign investors in the first two months of the year to P12.4 billion, or 11.7-percent higher than the average investment pledges usually received during the January-February period. Over the past five years, pledges in the first two months of the year averaged P11.1 billion, according to the BoI. –Amy R. Remo, Philippine Daily Inquirer