Trends and Forecast of The Philippines
Printing Industry
John L. Choa
President
Printing Industries Association of the Philippines
I bring your warm greetings from the Philippines, my country with more than 7,100 islands and with a land area of 300,000 sq. km. It stretch across the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
It has 3 main islands, Luzon , Visayas and Mindanao. Its capital is the city of Manila, where the people are warm, friendly and hospitable.
Our association, the Printing Industries Association of the Philippine just concluded the super successful “PRINT PHILS 08” on September 17 - 20, 2008, which showcased the latest trend and development in the printing industry, especially those that was shown recently at DRUPA 2008 in Dusseldorf, Germany. The success of the PRINT PHILS 08, confirmed our assessment that the printing industry is very healthy, robust and strong. every single exhibitors have express their satisfaction on the result of the PRINT PHILS 08, where millions worth of printing equipments & accessories were sold, and with the turn out of visitors at the show which broke record as the biggest in the history of PRINT PHILS show.
By virtue of Republic Act no.7369, all capital equipment, including printing machines and equipment, enjoy duty exemption and tax credit. At the same time the government embarked on a stepped up investment in infrastructure projects.
Our country undertook projects designed to decentralize the country’s economic base, lessening the Manila gridlock by promoting regional development projects. These includes the Subic Bay Freeport zone, the Clark special economic zone, the industrial estate at the Calabarzone and other innovative and dynamic project like the Philippine-Indonesia-Malaysia growth triangle. The bottom line vision of our government is to liberize, compete and succeed.
How you may ask is the Philippine economy doing today?
My answer is, today the economic position has dramatically improved, although the Philippines was also hit by the recent economic crisis. But I would say it is the least affected among the countries in the region. This is because of the (OFW) overseas foreign worker remittance of dollars to the tune of around 5 billion dollars a year. As a matter of fact, I would describe our economy to liken to an eagle, which has spread its wings and now flying with pride.
Now, let us look into what Philippines has to offer
(1) The location of the Philippines is strategic, nay par excellence, no other country is better situated than the Philippines.
(2) The Filipino people are committed to democracy and to free enterprises, with a flexible society exposed to a variety of eastern & western culture.
(3) We place an extremely high value on education. We spend a great deal on Education, on a per capita basis. most Filipinos can communicate very well in English language. As a matter fact a lot of Korean are sending their children to study English in the Philippines.
(4) We have plenty of skilled labor with comparatively lower wages than their Asian counterpart.
(5) The economic boom in the Philippines is creating a new middle class, per capita income is increasing dramatically, and income distribution becomes more & more equalized.
(6) The Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) said the Philippines and Singapore have been voted as the best Asian countries for expatriate living.
Allow me at this time to give you a short backgrounds of the Printing Industry in the Philippines.
Printing was first brought to the Philippines in the year 1597, especially to the Chinese village of Binondo in Manila.
At present, the Philippine has more than 5,000 printing establishments, around 3,500 of which are located in Metro Manila, and the rest in key cities and provincial capital. Some 1.5 million person are estimated to be dependent in printing and its allied trade.
The telecommunication industry has affected the efficient servicing of inquiries, order and delivery. The world has grown so small and goods are being transported from one end to the other in such a fast pace. Because of E-mail and Internet.
Our association has been experiencing a lot of inquiries for possible export of our printed products on a daily basis from all over the world.
A lot of print buyer have discovered the Philippine as an attractive venue to do business in the printing industry, as a result our association have specifically created an export promotion committee, primarily aimed at assisting our members to crush into the lucrative export market of printed matters. It is our vision that soon the Printing industry can become one of the top dollar earning industries in our country.
Our members have indeed responded to our call, for the past several years. We have seen a lot of Filipino printers investing in the latest and newest printing technology available. The printing industry have grown very strongly and aggressively and is now ready to do battle with our more progressive neighbor such as Hongkong and Singapore.
The latest technological breakthrough is in the field of digital printing, because there will be an increasing pressure in prices, ever shorter delivery deadline, rising operating costs, increasing quality consciousness, decreasing run length, and frequent under utilization of capacity, printers will turn their attention to digital printing. This has the highest potential for growth & development. Although this will requires the highest investments, the system will reduce the need for film, plate, color separation and offset printing. Thus introducing a new era in production.
In order to sustain their momentum and accelerate the continued growth of the industry. The Printing Industries Association of the Philippines (PIAP) thru its leadership, headed by your humble servant who have served as its president for 7 years, have inspired our members into greater productivity and in investing in new machines and technology in order to be able to compete with our neighboring countries. Thus our association organize various trips abroad to attend leading international trade shows so that our members can be updated with the latest trend in the printing technology. Our association conducts a monthly meeting for its members and as well as printing update seminars. We also hold our annual Print Excellence Contest, the purpose is to show case to the whole world that the printing industry in the Philippines have arrived and it is now able to produce world class printed materials.
If you have time to visit Philippines in the future, please do not hesitate to call on me, rest assured that the red carpet will be rolled out for you, so that you will have the opportunity to experience the world renounced Filipino brand of hospitality.
Mabuhay and Good Day to all of you.
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