By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat Local Industrial property developer Cathay Land sees continued strong demand for industrial estates as some manufacturers in China are relocating operations in other ASEAN countries, including the Philippines as a result of the ongoing US-China trade war. “With the advent of the US-China trade war, we see a lot of foreign manufacturers, even Chinese manufacturers who have traditionally been exporting from China to the US, they are now uncompetitive. So a lot are trying to get out and we are confident a small chunk of these who would like to locate to the Philippines,” said Cathay Land President Jeffrey Ng. After he personally met some of the potential locators, Ng announced: “Some have bought their lots already. Some are still under negotiation but every month there are new interested investors who are willing to locate their factories here in the Philippines.” With the strong demand, Cathay Land is pushing up the launch of Phase 2, Tranches 3 and 4 of Cavite Light Industrial Park (CLIP) in Silang, Cavite. To recall, Phase 2 was launched only February of this year. Only 53 lots – ranging in size from 1,400- 4,738 sq.m. – are available this time, at an average selling price of ₱25 million per lot. As for the price difference between Cathay Land’s residential, commercial and industrial offerings, Ng declared: “Even though our residential subdivisions are selling at almost ₱30,000 , for commercial lots at ₱50,000 to ₱60,000 , for industrial lots we’re selling at ₱9,000 - ₱10,000 , so the yield is much lower but it’s part of our company’s social responsibility and civic duty to put up industrial estates.” The price differential is because Cathay Land realizes that “factories can only afford so much for manufacturing unlike residential and commercial activities, they can afford to pay much higher.” CLIP gives locators easy access for the delivery of raw materials and logistics for their export operations. “Once CALAX (Cavite-Laguna Expressway] is finished and it’s much more accessible to Batangas City via SLEX (South Luzon Expressway) or CTBEX too, CLIP will be much more accessible to Batagas City port for their export operations,” he said.