Philippine Resins embarks on P1.7-B expansion

Philippine Resins Industries, Inc. (PRII) is embarking on a P1.68-billion expansion of its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) manufacturing plant in Mariveles, Bataan to make it one of the biggest resin manufacturers in Asia.

The company said the plan would take off from the completion of its P57-million project that unclogged the production of PVC resins in its existing plant facility and increased its production from 70,000 tons per year to a maximum capacity of 100,000 tons per year.

PVC is one of the most versatile and tested plastic materials in the market, with major applications in the construction sector. It is used as raw material for pipes, fittings, roofing, panels, electrical wires and cables and other products. PRII president Natividad Alejo said the recent undertaking removes the bottleneck in its manufacturing plant, entrenching the company firmly as the biggest PVC resin manufacturer in the country.

According to Alejo, PRII undertook the unclogging of its plant together with its partner, Tosoh Corp.

"This was made possible by the superior state-of-the-art technology that we now use and the able assistance provided by our partner," Alejo said. "With this new capacity, the company easily becomes one of the most competitive among newly installed PVC plants in the ASEAN region."

Alejo said the original investment for PRII’s existing plant was estimated at P2.4 billion to P2.88 billion.

According to Alejo, domestic PVC demand suffered a decline from around 100,000 tons in 1997 to about 65,000 tons in 1998 in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.

Since then however, Alejo said the market had been recovering gradually to 85,000 tons in 1999 to 90,000 tons in 2000.

Alejo said the recent developments and the apparent resilience of the economy had encouraged the industry to be more optimistic about the prospects in the local market.

Market recovery, Alejo said, is expected to gradually continue in 2001 onwards and PRII is positioning itself for this recovery.

In 2000, Alejo said PRII captured 75 percent of the total domestic PVC market. She said the company’s target is to increase this market share further this year.

PRII is 49-percent owned by Mabuhay Vinyl Corp. Tosoh Corp., on the other hand, had recently bought out the shares owned by the Bank of the Philippine Islands in Mabuhay Vinyl.