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Economic recovery, lower alert level seen to boost businesses

By Leslie Gatpolintan

June 6, 2022, 6:19 pm

<p>D&L president Alvin Lao <em>(Photo courtesy of D&L Industries, Inc.)</em></p>

D&L president Alvin Lao (Photo courtesy of D&L Industries, Inc.)

MANILA – Food ingredients and plastics manufacturer D&L Industries sees the recovery in the domestic economy and implementation of a lower alert level benefiting its business in the second quarter and the rest of the year.

In a virtual press briefing Monday, D&L president and chief executive officer Alvin Lao said the second quarter in terms of economic activity “looks quite good” even though there was no large election spending due to the pandemic.

“Airlines (are) reporting things are almost back to normal, traffic almost back to normal. Restaurants are full again and I noticed also there are refurbishments. More people are going on vacations,” he said.

Lao said should there be no new variant that will cause restrictions, companies whose performances are correlated with the economy “should see quite good performance” this April to June period and the rest of the year.

D&L Industries grew its earnings by 12 percent in the first quarter of the year despite the imposition of stricter quarantine measures.

Lao further said they thus remain committed to its expansion facility in Batangas province which is deemed to come at an “opportune time” given the recovery in the domestic economy and the company’s growing export business.

“This will be instrumental in our future growth as we plan to develop more high value-added coconut-based products and penetrate new international markets. This expansion is set to start commercial operations by January 2023,” he said.

Lao added that coconut-based products under food and oleochemicals were the main drivers behind the robust export growth, as coconut oil continues to gain traction in the global market due to its perceived natural antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties.

The Board of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority last year granted an extension of the start of commercial operations to January 2023 of the Batangas plant to D&L Premium Foods Corp. (DLPF) given delays encountered due to the spike in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases, the imposition of quarantine measures, and shipping delays for equipment and machineries for the plant.

DLPF is a wholly-owned subsidiary of D&L Industries which manufactures various food ingredients to cater to the company’s growing export business. (PNA)

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