Pioneer Float Glass Manufacturing Inc. (PFGMI) said sales suffered up to 50 percent decline this year due to the combined effects of smuggling and slowdown in demand.
Paul Vincent Go, president of PFGMI, in an interview said PFGMI has turned to exports offset the slowdown locally.
The absence of mandatory testing on glass for standards has spawned the entry of products of questionable quality.
Go said some imports have managed to slip into the country either undervalued or misdeclared to evade payment of safeguard duties now in effect on glass.
He added with the injunction slapped on Department Administrative Order 19-05 restoring mandatory testing on glass, the Department of Trade and Industry does not have a way of checking the standards on glass except through market monitoring which is when the products have already entered the market.
Go also laments the fact that even with the imposition of provisional safeguards in May, the customs memorandum order was only issued last month. The 200-day provisional duty lapses next year.
PFGMI is the country’s lone glass manufacturer in the Philippines. It has facilities in Pasig City with capacity of 550 tons per day.
