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Asahi Closes Philippine Auto Glass Plant

MANILA (Dow Jones)--Japan's Asahi Glass Co. has stopped producing automotive glass at its Philippine factory even though the manufacturer dominates the domestic market, supplying tempered glass to eight out of 10 vehicles sold in the country.

A source said Wednesday that Asahi opted instead to import tempered glass from its Thailand factory to achieve economies of scale by consolidating its production in one country to serve the entire southeast Asian region.

Despite its dominance, Asahi Glass Philippines' automotive glass line has been running at only 50% of capacity due to still weak car sales in the country.

Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas, who visited the Asahi's Philippine glass plant Wednesday, confirmed that the glass manufacturer indeed closed its automotive glass production line, but assured that the move isn't a prelude to Asahi pulling up its stakes in the Philippines.

He said a new production line will be opened by Asahi, but he didn't specify what glass products will be produced. He added Asahi even raised the capital of its local unit to PHP3.8 billion ($1=PHP53.950) from PHP1.86 billion as a sign of its future expansion plans for the country.

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