Listed food ingredients and oleochemical manufacturer D&L Industries Inc. is expecting better business prospects in 2025 as higher spending is expected during an election year.
D&L president Alvin Lao said that while spending is higher during presidential elections, consumer spending during midterm elections also boost the local economy, which is positive for any business.
“These are tailwinds for the economy and the normal trend in our company, as long as the economy is doing well, then we are a beneficiary,” Lao told reporters.
Lao also sees that lower inflation rate and interest rates will support the company’s performance in 2025.
“It looks like the peak of the price of rice happened several months ago. The price of rice has actually been coming down and its another sign that inflation is coming down,” Lao said.
“So, looking forward, it’s making us more optimistic this year with inflation much lower. There’s more breathing room now for consumers so, hopefully, it means more money to spend and hopefully is also means a better economy,” he added.
Moreover, he said hotels and malls were full last December, a sign that the tourism and hospitality sector is expected to recover this year.
Lao also mentioned that the implementation of higher coco methyl ester (CME) blend for all diesel fuel, which started on Oct. 1, 2024, will further drive the firm’s earnings by another percentage point.
D&L is the parent company of the country’s largest biodiesel producer Chemrez Technologies Inc.
He said “demand is quite strong” for Chemrez since hiking the minimum CME blend from 2 percent (B2) to 3 percent (B3) last year.
It will increase to 4 percent (B4) on Oct. 1, 2025, and to 5 percent after a year.
“From 40 percent capacity, we assumed we would be up by 20 percent to 60 percent. But, what we understand is that many other suppliers of biodiesel may have had issues ramping up their own capacity so we might have gone even above 60 percent to make up for the other manufacturers who could not ramp up their capacity,” Lao said. (PNA)
