Clark 2011 exports breach $2B mark

CLARK FREEPORT – The Clark Development Corporation (CDC) announced that the value of exports inside this world-class Freeport for 2011have breached the $2-billion mark three years earlier than the target date set by state-owned firm.

CDC President Felipe Antonio B. Remollo said despite an apparent decline in Philippine exports due to a worldwide economic slump last year, Clark-based enterprises were able to ship at least $2.258 billion exports between January and December 2011.

Comparatively, Remollo said the amount is a remarkable 55-percent increase from the $1.453 billion exports recorded in 2010.

According to Remollo, the $1.573 billion exports from Clark’s electronic sector had helped propel this record surge. This was followed by tire exports at $298 million and garments at $226 million. Manufacturing firms contributed $131 million while aviation-related companies completed the top five exporting sectors with $13 million.

“The country’s export performance may not be altogether bleak as exports of the Clark Freeport Zone exceeded the 2 billion mark a good three years earlier than the target date set by the CDC,” Remollo revealed.

The 2011 record export volume puts CDC on track in attaining the three major performance targets dubbed “3-2-1 Development Roadmap” for Clark where $3 billion is in investments, $2 billion in exports, and 100,000 jobs, which must be achieved by the state-run corporation by the year 2014.

“With these developments in the exports sector, the present trends show that these targets are attainable much earlier than planned,” Remollo said.

Clark’s perennial top exporter, Nanox Philippines, Inc., remains at the top of the CDC’s list with exports of more than $791 million in custom-designed products such as Liquid Crystal Display panels, LCD modules, Monochrome LCDs, and other related electronic parts.

Trailing behind is Phoenix Semiconductor Philippines Corp. (PSPC), a company established only in January 2010 by one of Korea’s leading provider of semiconductor packaging. PSPC exported more than $566 million in electronic parts with DDR3, NAND, Flash Cards and SSD, as well as memory modules for PCs and notebooks.

Last year’s second top exporter, Yokohama Tires Philippines, Inc., is this year’s third largest Clark exporter with over $298 million in tires exports. Notwithstanding the slight drop in ranking, Yokohama’s export value is still 31% higher compared to that of last year.

Two more firms L&T International and SMK Electronic complete the list of top five Clark exporters with $145 million and $98 million in garments and electronics exports, respectively.

Moving on to other top performing firms here, HLD Clark Steel Pipe has exported more than $71 million to place sixth on the list of top exporters is a tipoff to the growing significance of the “other Manufacturing” sector of Clark. HLD Pipes is a Chinese metal pipe manufacturer which specializes in customized thread end pipes, scaffolding tubes, various weld pipes, and square tubes.

In terms of year-to-year growth, Clark’s “other manufacturing” sector generated the highest rate of increase of 195 percent by exporting $131 million in 2011 compared to only $44 million in the previous year.

Two other firms under this bullish sector, Multi-Tek Fasteners Inc., a Taiwanese firm that is into manufacturing, rethreading, quality checking, repairing, surface treatment, repacking, exporting different types of screws, plugs, sockets, pipes, hubs, fasteners, and other related products, and Aderans Philippines, Inc., a manufacturer of high quality, customized wigs also made strong export contributions.

Other sectors which registered double to triple digit growth rates are Services, Tourism, Aviation-related, Electronics, Tires and Furniture. (CDC-PRD)