Rubbers andPlastics

According to Statista, the rubber and plastic products manufacturing industry share of GDP in the Philippines was approximately 0.4 percent in 2018. The manufacturing value added by the industry amounted to around 36.38 billion Philippine pesos. In 2020, the volume of rubber produced in the Philippines amounted to approximately 422.4 thousand metric tons. In the same year, the production value of rubber in the country amounted to 9.12 billion Philippine pesos [2].

The Philippines was among the top-ranking countries in rubber production until the 80’s, when demand for car tires and other rubber-made products slowed down following the decline in the Japanese and European economies. However, the Philippine market for rubber products has recently demonstrated new vitality as shown by the increasing demand for rubber-made goods [3]. The island of Mindanao currently supplies 99% of the country’s national rubber production [4].

Rubber is an essential raw material and is considered as one of the most profitable agri-industrial ventures in the Philippines. Its products serve all kinds of industries which would not function without the often-small technical rubber goods. From aerospace to aeronautics, from the depth of the seas to the depth of the earth, from agriculture to household appliances, the significance of rubber shows great potential for the Philippine rubber industry as one of the key contributors in Philippine economic development [5].

Three sectors comprise the Philippine rubber industry. The first, the upstream sector, is mainly involved in rubber plantation operations, management, and trading. The midstream sector involves the production of Standard Philippine Rubber (SPR) for ISO certified/aligned processors. The downstream sector involves the production of rubber-based products intended for domestic and export markets. [5]

The division of the rubber industry in the Philippines that is mainly engaged in the production of rubber cup lumps increased its production between October and December 2019, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said in its major non-food and industrial crops quarterly bulletin. Production of rubber cup lumps grew by 6.4% from 142.72 thousand metric tons in the same quarter of 2018 to 151.80 thousand metric tons in the last quarter last year. The PSA added that Region 12 or the Soccsksargen region posted the highest production during the period by registering 70.32 metric tons or 46.3 percent of the total national production of rubber cup lumps. [6]

Plastics are one of the most traded commodities globally. Most manufacturers in the country produce resins as well as plastic products for applications such as packaging, automotive, construction, electronics, and furniture. [7] The Philippine downstream plastics industry refers to the plastic fabricators and manufacturers which convert plastic resins to industrial and consumer finished products. [8] The market is segmented by type, technology and application. By type, the market is segmented into traditional plastics, engineering plastics, and bioplastics. By technology, the market is segmented into blow molding, extrusion, injection molding, and other technologies. By application the market is segmented into packaging, electrical and electronics, building and construction, automotive and transportation, housewares, furniture and bedding, and other applications. [7] Main production processes include film and sheet extrusion; injection molding; compression molding; extrusion blow molding: injection blow molding; injection stretch blow molding; pipe and profile extrusion; net and twine extrusion; woven sack extrusion and weaving; sheet thermoforming, printing, lamination, slitting and bag forming; and recycling. [8] The industry is categorized into sub-sectors based on their finished products such as flexible plastics, plastic bags, styro products, PVC products, pipes and fittings, recycled plastics, net, twine and sack, rigid plastics, tapes & others. [9]

Packaging accounts for the largest application segment in the Philippines plastics market. The prime reasons for the growing application of engineering plastics, in the packaging segment, are better wear and chemical resistance, ease of molding, recyclability, puncture resistance, and high mechanical strength. Some of the major applications of engineering plastics, in the packaging segment, are as follows: packaging of bottled water, flexible packaging, such as sausage skin, flexible foils, such as shopping bags. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the plastics majorly used for packaging purposes, mostly in the food and beverage industry. Portability, design flexibility, ease of cleaning, light weight, and protection against moisture, are a few properties of PET, which makes it suitable for packaging purposes. PETs are used for making clamshells, bakery and take-out containers, microwaveable food trays, carbonated soft drink bottles, and other packages. Other applications include packaging materials for cooking oils, shampoo, hand wash, and more products. Polyamide is another major engineering plastic that finds major application in the packaging sector. Bi-axially oriented and non-oriented polyamide films are used in medical and food packaging, owing to the former’s high impact strength and good heat resistance. [7]

Majority of the plastics companies are situated in Metro Manila, particularly in Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela area, while others are in Manila, Pasig, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon. There are some in Iloilo and Cebu in the Visayas, and Davao in Mindanao. [8]