Pork import from Korea OK’d

The government is set to allow pork and pork product importation from South Korea as the Department of Agriculture (DA) has found South Korea’s monitoring system against the classical swine fever (CSF) or hog cholera acceptable and occurrence of the disease is within controllable limits. In a statement, Agriculture Secretary Luis P. Lorenzo said the import will be allowed for as long as "they come from safe sources." South Korea reported three provinces that had outbreaks of CSF including Chungbok which was hit by the disease in January, Kyongbuk in October, and Kyonggi in November. Since the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Office International des Epizooties (OIE) imposes that a region should have a serological monitoring system for at least six months so that it proves absence of an infection before it is able to export, the government may have to wait until six months from proven control of the disease before it will be able to import from these South Korean pork sources.

Singapore installs port x-rays

Singapore has beaten the Philippines in modernizing its international trading system by installing x-ray machines in some of its busiest seaports. A similar proposal was one of the most urgent reforms sought by the business community from the government at the end of the centennial Philippine Business Conference (PBC) last November. The reasons given then were: to prevent terrorist groups and other criminal groups from bringing in explosives and other banned items through the ports to the country, speed up processing of exports and imports via automated inspection, and help modernize customs operations. A notice sent recently to the Philippines by the Singapore Customs and Excise Department advised local exporters that a radiographic inspection system has been deployed at Singapore’s seaports.

PLDT inks CBA with line workers

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) said the staff numbers at its fixed-line business declined 1,900 to 10,230 at end-2003 from 12,131 at end-2002. The company announced today that it has signed a new three-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with fixed-line workers, who were earlier reported to be planning to stage a strike. It did not disclose the major provisions in the new CBA. PLDT’s fixed lines in service totaled 2.1 million as of end-2003, of which 17 percent were prepaid. Fixed line revenue in 2003 as steady at P45.4 billion, when compared with the R44.9 billion of the previous year. International long distance revenue grew 21 percent year-on-year to P12.1 billion due to increased inbound termination rates implemented in Feb 2003. Revenue of the local exchange operations declined 2 percent to P20.6 billion, while that of national long distance fell 16 percent to P6.3 billion. PLDT said, after its manpower reduction activities last year, for which provisions were made, the ratio of fixed lines per employee improved to 207 at end-2003 from the previous year’s 172.

Del Monte profits decline 6%

SINGAPORE, Feb. 21 (Reuters) — Del Monte Pacific Ltd., which sells pineapple-based products and beverages, said fourth-quarter net profit fell 6 percent due to higher marketing expenses and a one-off provision. Singapore-listed Del Monte said it earned $13.4 million in the three months to December against a restated $14.3 million for the same period a year earlier, despite a 16.5 percent rise in revenue to $72.8 million. Del Monte, which owns the Del Monte brand in the Philippines, said it made a provision of $2.1 million for inventory management.

GIR level revised to $16.08 B

The level of the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) has been revised to $16.08 billion as of end-January from the earlier reported $16.11 billion, the central bank’s website shows. The GIR fell from end-December’s $16.87 billion due to the government’s and central bank’s higher debt servicing requirements. The end-January GIR was adequate to cover 4.5 months of imports of goods and payments of services and income. It is also equivalent to 2.8 times the Philippines’ short-term debt based on original maturity and 1.4 times based on residual maturity. The central bank intends to maintain the GIR at a comfortable level of $14 billion to $15 billion this year.

Nidec expands Subic plant

Sankyo Seiki (Philippines) Manufacturing Corporation announced that it is now 100 percent owned subsidiary of Nidec Philippines Corporation, one of the companies of Nidec Corporation in Kyoto, Japan. Sankyo Seiki (Philippines), which is now called Nidec Subic Philippines Corporation (NSB), will be infusing some R2 billion for the expansion of their operations here, thereby creating more jobs. Nidec Corporation is the world’s top manufacturer of small precision motors, and currently maintains the largest market share in the world for spindle motors, which rotate disks and are at the heart of hard disk drives used in personal computers. Now on its third year in Subic Freeport, NSB aims to improve its services and operations