Republic-Asahi Glass Corp. (RAGC), a Filipino-Japanese joint venture and also the country“s top producer of industrial glass, is investing Pso 2.683 billion in a new float glass manufacturing facilit…
Republic-Asahi Glass Corp. (RAGC), a Filipino-Japanese joint venture and also the country“s top producer of industrial glass, is investing Pso 2.683 billion in a new float glass manufacturing facility in Batangas. Documents from the Board of Investments (BOI) show that the company seeks to register the project for fiscal and capital equipment incentives as an expanding export producer of float glass. The new plant will export 50located % of its total production while the remaining 50% will be sold to the domestic market. The proposed manufacturing facility, to be in Barangays Manghinao and San Andres, Bauan, Batangas, will produce float glass at an annual capacity of 3,185,600 converted cases or 144,800 tonnes. RAGC will spend Pso 731.2 million for imported basic line equipment, Pso 403.28 million for other imported utilities and ancillary equipment, Pso 50 million for engineering and technical services, Pso 72.32 million for import-related costs, Pso 187 million for land and development, Pso 656.5 million for building and civil works, Pso 240.42 million for local equipment and installation, Pso 15 million for local engineering services and Pso 30 million for pre-operating expenses. The project will be financed by Pso 1.512 billion in foreign loans and Pso 380.6 million in local loans, and another Pso 790.91 million in equity infusion. With 70% of the project funded through loans, RAGC is outlaying Pso 244.98 million for financial charges during construction. It also pegged capitalized foreign exchange loss at Pso 53.26 million. Equipment purchase and manufacture will run from January to September 1997, while construction and erection of the physical plant will be from January 1996 to June 1998. A trial run will be conducted in September 1998 before commercial operations begin in December 1998. During the first five years of the Batangas plant“s commercial operations, RAGC expects production volume to reach 144,800 tonnes from an initial 35,295 metric tons. Export sales are projected to peak at 72,400 tonnes from an initial 17,648 tonnes. RAGC plans to sell its float glass at Pso 697/converted case in the domestic market and at $12/converted case in the export market. The Batangas facility will employ at least 218 personnel. Last year, RAGC“s existing float glass plant in Pasig produced a total of 109,211 tonnes of float glass, 59,354 tonnes of which were exported while a total of 42,699 tonnes were sold in the domestic market. The firm“s major stockholders are RGC Holdings, Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. of Japan, ACCRA Agents, Republic-Asahi Realty Corp., Solidbank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Union Bank and Citicorp Securities, Inc.