Subic-made exports hit all-time high at $1.34B in 2010

Total export value of Subic-made products hit the freight-on-board (FOB) value of $1.34 billion in 2010, an all-time high record for the Subic Bay Freeport as it also posted the biggest annual revenue collection here last year.

Subic’s total exports last year surpassed the 2009 export value of $1.08 billion by 24.6 percent or $265.6 million.

Like the Philippine economy, which went well last year, the Subic Bay Freeport reached new heights in 2010, said Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) administrator and CEO Armand Arreza, who recently presented the state of the free port to Subic investors.

Arreza pointed out that aside from posting the new export record, Subic Freeport also turned out the biggest amount of duties and taxes in a single year – a total of P6.68 billion on 2010, as well as one of the highest import values so far – a total of $3.48 billion.

Arreza said that these indicate a stronger Subic economy and the growing competitiveness of the free port as a manufacturing and trading center.

According to SBMA records, the top 10 exporters last year contributed the bulk of export production – turning out an aggregate of $1.16 billion out of the total value of $1.34 billion.

The biggest exporters were led by Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp.-Philippines (HHIC-Phil), which exported a total of $725.8 million in FOB value.

Hanjin’s exports in 2010 included two oil tankers – the ―M/T Leyla K and its twin ―M/T Eser K, that were delivered in January and March, respectively, to the Turkish-owned Kaptanoglu Shipping Line.

Hanjin officials said the two were the first and biggest crude oil tankers ever built in the Philippines, tipping the scales at 114,000 deadweight tons and measuring 241.27 meters long, 44 meters wide, and 21.35 meters deep. Each was worth $68 million.

In February last year, Hanjin also completed the ―APL Bahrain, 259.8 meter-long container ship which has a capacity of 4,330 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). This was built for the Singapore-based American President Lines (APL).

Following Hanjin among the top exporters were Japanese electronics producer Sanyo Denki Phils., Inc., which produced $103.2 million in exports; Taiwanese computer-maker Wistron Infocomm Phils., with $75.3 million; Japanese ATM-machine manufacturer Hitachi Terminals Mechatronics Phils. Corp., with $57.7 million; and Taiwanese metal manufacturer Tong Lung (Phils.) Metal Industry, with $53.1 million.

Completing the list of top 10 exporters are: Juken Sangyo (Phils.) Corp., with exports of $53 million; Tapu Corp., with $27.7 million; Nicera Philippines, Inc., with $22.2 million; Cano Subic Corp., with $20.8 million; and Nidec Subic Philippines Corp., with $18 million.

At least four of the top 10 exporters were also in the list of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s list of top taxpayers in Subic.

Meanwhile, imports by Subic-registered firms also showed a strong performance, jumping by 55.28 percent to $3.48 billion in 2010 from a mere $2.24 billion in 2009.

According to records from the SBMA Trade Facilitation and Compliance Office, the total FOB value of the top 10 importers here last year amounted to $2.79 billion, or more than 80 percent of the yearend total.

Topping the list of Subic’s top 10 importers was Sanyo Denki Philippines, Inc., with total imports of $606.48 million. Sanyo Denki has been consistently in the top 10 importers list for the last five years.

Following Sanyo Denki were: PTT Philippines Trading Corporation with $424.6 million in imports; HHIC-Phil with $381.38 million; Koryo Subic, Inc., $368.84 million; Nicera Phils., $240.85 million; Nidec Subic Phils. Corp., $224.25 million; Koushin Mfg. Phils., Inc., $183.33 million; Wistron Infocomm (Phils.) Corp., $156.96 million; Micro Dragon Petroleum, Inc., $138.23 million; and Challenger Aero Air Corporation, $67.62 million.(SBMA-PRD/AMV/PIA Zambales)