Fireworks makers post higher sales

MALOLOS CITY, Philippines – It was the best year in a decade in terms of fireworks sales for the New Year, according to pyrotechnics manufacturers and dealers.

Some of them lamented they could have earned more were it not for illegal manufacturers who sold unregulated and oversized firecrackers.

“It’s positive, we have bigger sales this year,” said Celso Cruz, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Pyrotechnics Manufacturers and Dealers Association Inc. (PPMDAI).

Cruz said the PPMDAI would continue its education campaign throughout the year to increase public awareness on the safe handling and use of pyrotechnics.

He said the group would also assist other manufacturers in improving the quality of their products.

Cruz said it the first time since 2000 that the local pyrotechnics industry registered positive sales.

He said a lot of local retailers ran out of stocks with only hours before the New Year revelry began.

Cruz said the positive sales in the recent New Year revelry came even in the wake of the massive campaign by the government and other sectors against using firecrackers to welcome the New Year.

“It’s a tradition and it is now very clear that they cannot kill the tradition,” Cruz said.

He said hours before the traditional countdown for the New Year, thousands had lighted fireworks and firecrackers across the country especially in Metro Manila.

In terms of per capita volume of pyrotechnics devices used in the recent revelry, Cruz said it might have dropped compared to the past few years, but added that pyrotechnics were still used to welcome the New Year.

“Family economics is one of the factors in the sales and there are those who purchased less pyrotechnics products, but the numbers of buyers has increased which resulted in positive sales,” he said.

Vimmie Erese of the PPMDAI, on the other hand, claimed that some of their members recorded drop in sales.

“Some of us were not able to sell our stocks. There were even some customers returning their purchases,” Erese said.

Erese lamented that some of them were not able to compete with illegally produced firecrackers and smuggled pyrotechnics.

She said there are about 60 licensed manufacturers in the country and some of them had to contend with unsold products being returned after the New Year.

Cruz added that the gap in the production of pyrotechnics was filled by some 500 illegal manufacturers and dealers of smuggled products.

“If the public bought all their fireworks from us, then it could have been better for us,” Cruz said.

Cruz said their group vowed to upgrade the quality of their products in order to promote safety.

He said their group would also continue to work with the Department of Science and Technology and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in developing courses for pyro-technicians.

Cruz said the courses and curriculum have been prepared and they only need to establish a laboratory for the school.