Flat glass maker having second thoughts on expansion

The capital-intensive expansion project of the country’s lone flat glass maker might be held back by a government order, which is being blamed for the increase in allegedly substandard products eating up the market.

Pioneer Float Glass Manufacturing Inc. (PFMGI) plans to invest more than P5 billion in a furnace that will be used to manufacture flat glass, according to company president Paul Vincent Go.

The problem, however, is the surge in imports in recent years, some of which are believed to be misdeclarations that come at the expense of consumer safety.

Company officials point to a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) decision in 2015 to delist flat glass from the list of products that have to undergo mandatory product certification.

Since that year, the product has been subjected to voluntary product certification instead, a move which officials note opened the floodgates for supposedly substandard goods.

“We’re trying to put up a new furnace hopefully. But with this situation, we’re having second thoughts. That would have generated more than 1,000 jobs,” Go said.

Go told reporters that they need to start building the new furnace in the fourth quarter of this year, but noted that they are still observing the market.

The company, which produces a type of flat glass called float glass, has seen its market share in the country fall in the past three years, said executive vice president Nonito Galpa.

Flat glass, a construction material used for windows and doors, among others, stayed on the mandatory list for 10 years starting 2005.

Prior to the product’s delisting, Galpa said the firm’s market share was around 70 percent.

He said the government decided to put it under the mandatory list back when the local industry saw a downtrend in its market share amid growing imports.

The company’s market share has now dwindled to around 45 percent, which prompted (PFMGI) to start exporting a portion of its output.

He clarified, however, that this is not an issue of importation, but rather of fair play.