Terumo to invest $45 million in five years to expand syringe output

MANILA, Philippines - Japanese medical manufacturer Te-rumo (Philippines) Corp. announced they will be investing $45 million in a period of five years to expand their syringe manufacturing in the country.

In an interview with reporters on the sidelines of their 10th anniversary celebration, Terumo president Maki Takizawa said that in five years time the Philippines will be the company’s only syringe manufacturing plant outside of Japan.

Takizawa said that they will be moving the syringe operations in Belgium after transferring the United States syringe manufacturing line two years ago. However, Takizawa cleared that they will not be closing down their Belgium and United States factories. They are merely transferring the syringe manufacturing in the Philppines.

Currently, the local plant produces 50 percent of the syringe that Terumo sells worldwide. The P5.3-billion Terumo plant in the country produces 1.7 billion syringes annually.

Takizawa said that they will not be adding new products to the two products that they are currently producing. Right now, Terumo is producing 280 types of syringes.

He said that the reason they decided to expand their operations here in the country is because it is cheaper here than in other countries.

For her part, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Lilia B. de Lima said that she is very proud of Terumo because only last March, the company was able to post its record production of 114 million syringes.

De Lima said she is happy that Japanese firms are investing here because the Japanese are “good corporate citizens, that treat their employees very well.”

Terumo has been manufacturing injections and catheters here in the Philippines. She said they are looking at manufacturing more of the over 2,000 products of Terumo. Terumo is located in Biñan, Laguna.

Capitalized at P1.48 billion, the company is an affiliate of Terumo Corp. of Japan, whose products are marketed in over 150 countries. They are in North America, South America, Australia, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.