According to industrial sources, the safety glass industry of the Philippines is expected to contract by a further 5% this year. This comes on top of a fall of some 30% during 1999. One of the major problems contributing to the woes of the safety glass manufacturers include oversupply, said Mr Benito Tan, general manager of The Sun Industrial Corp. In fact, Mr Tan estimates the market to be oversupplied to tue tune of 10-15% at present. The Sun Industrial Corp. is one of the biggest safety glass processors in the Philippines, and exports 10% of its output to Malaysia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and the Republic of Yemen. Because of the oversupply situation, safety glass manufacturers in the Philippines are suffering from low profit margins, largely brought on by the relatively high production costs of glass in the country.
