As a result of growing demand for bicycles amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Trade and Industry aims to attract bicycle manufacturers to invest in the Philippines.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo, who is also the managing director of the Board of Investments, said that it is an “opportune time” for bicycle manufacturers to locate in the Philippines as demand continues to increase.
Rodolfo further noted that “Our bicycle manufacturers here in the Philippines are in the informal sector” and that there are large factories for bicycle and bicycle parts in Cavite and Laguna like Shimano, however these are mostly for the export market.
“If demand in the domestic market will continue to rise, they can do market repositioning more towards the domestic,” he added.
Rodolfo said the BOI is pursuing talks with a big Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer to locate their factory in the Philippines citing that the Philippines is an ideal manufacturing hub for bicycles since the country is under preferential tariff systems of the European Union and the United States.
Investments of bicycle makers in the country will also lead to employment—creating job opportunities for many Filipinos that have lost their livelihoods during the pandemic.
