Henry Sy Jr.’s Big Boss Cement eyes P4-B investment for expansion

Banking on the increasing domestic demand amid the government's infrastructure initiatives, Henry Sy Jr.'s Big Boss Cement Inc. (BBCI) is eyeing to invest around P4 billion to build two more processing plants to expand its production capacity.

"We're expanding to meet the needs of the country which exponentially requiring cement every year in and out," BBCI president Gilbert Cruz told reporters in a recent interview.

"Today we are 22 million metric tons [of demand], but five years later we'll be 40 million. There's a lot of gap that we have to fill in so we should be building more and should not rely on imports. We have to do it ourselves," Cruz added.

Cruz said BBCI will put up two more cement manufacturing plants to increase the company's production capacity to 10 million bags of cement a month.

BBCI's, currently, has a cement plant in Porac, Pampanga, and has a potential capacity of 1.5 million bags per month.

He estimated that the company needs to invest P4 billion to construct the additional plants.

"We have already our second and third sites. Zambaonga Peninsula is the second one," Cruz said, noting that the second plant will be built after two years.

The company's chief, however, declined to identify the location of the third plant but said it will be built in another two years after the second plant is completed.

Cruz said the BBCI shares 3 percent of the market, but said, the company will be "five times bigger" once its second plant begins operations.

He said the company is also eyeing to help in the government's infrastructure programs with "whatever we can produce."

He admitted, however, that the company's current capacity is not enough to the meet the government's requirement of about 22 million bags a month, thus the need to expand capacity.

Sy Jr., son and namesake of Philippines’ richest man Henry Sy Sr., heads the newly-launched BBCI as its chairman.

The cement manufacturer boasts itself as a producer of "environment-friendly" cement using its own patent revolutionary technology.

Its patent-pending manufacturing process makes use of readily available raw materials, such as lahar, and does not require excessive heat to produce high quality cement, resulting in less carbon dioxide emission. —John Ted Cordero/LBG, GMA News