Bosch upbeat on PH market

The Bosch Group expects 2012 to bring double-digit growth in sales for its Philippine operations as the domestic market expands, Robert Bosch Philippines managing director Joseph Hong said in a briefing.

Hong said the company continued to look for growth opportunities in the Philippines given its growing population; expected increase in consumption and, consequently, demand for goods and services; abundance of natural resources; and availability of skilled workers.

Bosch opened Tuesday the shared training center of Robert Bosch Philippines, the training ground for Bosch associates and stakeholders in the power tools and automotive aftermarket divisions. The Bosch Group invested $1.8 million in the facility.

The company sees the Philippines as a hub for the BPO [business process outsourcing] and semiconductor sectors, according to Martin Hayes, president and managing director of Robert Bosch Southeast Asia Pte Ltd.

Hayes also said the Philippines could benefit from the fast growth in Asia-Pacific, “the most important region outside of Europe” for the Bosch Group.

In 2011, Bosch Philippines posted a 6.3-percent growth in sales to $23.8 million. Total sales, including the supply of products and services to other Bosch entities, jumped by 28.7 percent from the previous year’s level.

In Southeast Asia, the Philippines was the fourth-biggest contributor to the 11.3-percent growth in the company’s sales in the region last year, company data showed.

“In the last 15 years we have strengthened our automotive aftermarket and power tools divisions’ market presence in the Philippines. In 2011, these divisions posted growths of 18 percent and 40 percent, respectively,” Hong said.

“We took this as a good guidance to achieve further growth and to take our business to another level with the expansion of the thermotechnology and security systems divisions into the Philippine market,” Hong said.

The Philippine economy expanded by 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2012. The growth rate is expected to further accelerate in the coming quarters to attain a 5- to 6-percent growth for the whole year.

Government officials said the Philippines might be able to hit its 7 to 8 percent average annual growth target for 2010 to 2016.