My Soccer Story, Part 1

The latest achievement by the Philippine “Azkals” Men’s Team in the recent AFF Suzuki Cup held in Hanoi, Vietnam is perhaps the highest performance by any Philippine national soccer team in international competition. Fortunately, it made front page headlines, media commentaries and exposure, the kind of recognition it truly deserves but sadly not felt in the past. Except somewhere in the “land of my birth” which considers soccer, not basketball, as its national past time. No wonder, it is called, the hotbed of soccer where many national team players, past and present, come from. It is therefore, not just a coincidence that this victorious national team has in its line-up 7 players from Barotac Nuevo.

I come from a small town in Anilao, some 10kms. away from Barotac Nuevo, in Iloilo province, considered as the soccer capital of the Philippines. In many ways, by proximity, friends, relatives, trade, business, etc, Barotac is also our hometown. And being so, I kicked balls before I entered grade school just like the other kids in this town, and long, long before I could shoot basket balls. I remember in our youth and perhaps until now, a purok or barrio could

field a complete team on certain age groups. Different sections in every grade level would play each other as complete teams. Talk of grass root development.

In high school, we would play soccer in our Sportsfest along and against future Mr. Football of the Philippines. Varsity teams of major soccer-loving universities in Iloilo City would be composed mainly of Barotacnons with the rest coming from two other soccer loving places, namely the town of Sta. Barbara and La Paz district. Major teams like the Philippine Army, Navy, Air Force and UAAP school teams are dominated by players from Barotac. Having been exposed to the game early on, I know the game and its technicalities, recognize skills, strategy, etc., something many would not appreciate especially when they see a low scoring scoring 2-1 game and a 0-0 draw game. I can differentiate the playing style of defense oriented European teams like Italy against the free flowing go go game (which I like) of South American teams exemplified by Brazil and Argentina. I grew up idolizing Pele, Tostao, Falcao, Socrates, to Romario, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, among other Brazilian greats, Franz Beckenbauer of Germany, Gordon Banks to David Beckham of England, and many many more. They are to me, soccer’s equivalent to Chamberlain, Russel, Bird, Majic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and other NBA greats. The European soccer leagues featuring Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, etc. of England, Real Madrid and Barcelona FC of Spain share equal if not more of my TV viewing time with LA Lakers, Miami Heat, Orlando Majic, Boston Celtics, etc.

Because I love and understand soccer, I could feel the passion of the whole world about it; a passion I’m not sure if it could be rubbed off on to basketball loving Filipinos.

Reaction from Vietnam

I'd like to share the following comment from a former colleague who is now an expat working in a galvanizing plant in Vietnam.



This is his reaction to my post about Vietnam.

Nono,

I had a look at your other blog in "steelconnect". Unfortunately, there was no mention of any details on your visit with the other steel plant (presumably Phu My Flat Steel) near BlueScope Steel which Antit Macatol and yours truly worked.

Anyway, just to give a little perspective on the status of the steel industry in Vietnam, the following are some of the latest updates:

1. Korean owned POSCO Vietnam located within the general area of the Phu My 1 industrial zone which you visited is currently commissioning a continuous pickle line dovetailed to the 5 stand 6-high tandem cold mill, continuous annealing line and a recoiling line. The reported capacity of this new 5-stand cold mill is 2 million tonnes per year (MTPY). Target commercial run will be on September 2009.

2. A single stand reversing cold mill is currently being put up beside the Phu My Flat Steel in partnership with Vietnam Steel (owner of Phu My Flat Steel) and 2 other investors. The capacity is about 350,000 tonnes per year.

3. Another hot mill & cold mill complex is planned to be put up by an Indian investor (the company name escape me at this time) with about the same capacity as POSCO Vietnam of 2 MTPY.

Why am I enumerating this? This just shows how far the Philippines has lagged from other Asean neighbors. If others are "naghihinayang" about what happened to the erstwhile NSC, I am very deeply disappointed. Whatever happened to our plan to put up an integrated steel plant is now nothing but a dream and continues to become a nightmare as we regressed our development. It won't be long when we really will be the sick man of Asia.

Should there be a gathering of former NSC colleagues soon, I'd certainly try to be there.

Vietnam’s (Steel) Outlook

The 10 million MT local demand was forecast by the government to reach in 2010 but this was already achieved in 2007. The next target is 20 million MT in 2020. Going by their rate of expansion, and barring major and prolonged market crisis, this is very much achievable.

At present, the government has already given a go ahead business permit approval (including the necessary environmental permits and clearances) to 5 big companies to undergo and build integrated iron and steel plants by way of blast furnaces. These are PT Essar and Tata Steel from India, POSCO from Korea and the Tycoon Group from Taiwan. It has likewise given mining permits to develop and extract iron ores in at least 2 different locations identified to have enough reserves of this raw material.

Downstream, all the plants we visited and similarly the others too are poised to go on further expansions. Their sites are ready, their plans are in place but got stalled only by the present global financial crisis. By their own admission however, they are upbeat that there will be turnaround sooner that most expect.

Consider this, just days ago, at the height of the crisis, Ton Nan Kim (which we visited) just bought and put up a company in New York and immediately listed it in the Dow Jones Stock Exchange. This new company now will be their mother company while their plant operation is in Vietnam.

With such optimism, vision, political will, etc., Vietnam indeed will become one of the tiger economies in this part of the world.

Vietnam’s Existing Iron and Steel Industry

Not too long ago, until the late 1990’s, when we talk about the iron and steel industry and market, Vietnam was lumped in the company of countries like Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Bangladesh, etc. But with its pro business, and state industrial policy where foreign capital was welcomed with incentives,, it has leapfrogged from this status to being on the verge of being among its equals with ASEAN and even the Asian region as well, among the likes of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and definitely surpassing the Philippines. With its 85 million population (almost similar to the Philippines), its present total steel demand has reached 10 million MT, more than 3 times the Philippines. This is broken down as follows:5.61 million MT for long products and 4.61 million MT for flat products. 2006 figures for steel per capita is 2244 versus the Philippines which is only around 1800.

Such “open” policy allows businesses to be owned 100% by foreign investors. What is not allowed, typical of Communist governments, is ownership of land, which is still retained by the State, although long term lease of up to 50 years is permitted.

Vietnam steel industry took an aggressive development, and growth starting late 1990’s . Hence, most of the plants and mills, especially all that we have visited, were constructed only after 2000. That is why, we can conclude that Vietnam’s steel plants are new and modern, many of them built and supplied by known companies such as Danielle- Wean United from Europe and America and POSCO in Korea: There are those that have been sourced from China (for its mechanical parts) but process controls and electrical systems were supplied by Siemens, the top supplier as far as controls is concerned. Their technical men have been likewise trained abroad in Europe and China.

Notably, Vietnam’s expansion followed the model of “backward integration”: The plants we visited employed this model. Ton Hoa Sen started as a distributor, then put up its color coating line, then galvanizing line and galvalume line and this year commissioned a cold-rolling mill. Sun Steel started as pipe manufacturer then expanded by putting up its own color coating line and finally a galvalume line.

Accordingly, there are now around 21 galvanizing/ and color coating lines throughout Vietnam.

They said that after years of continued and increasing growth, Vietnam got hit by recession this year with interest rates going up more than 20%. And with such huge production capacities, the steel crisis have hit them for 3 consecutive months now reportedly starting September and continued to October and November..December is projected to behave the same. They are at present holding a total steel inventory of 3 million MT (combined flat, long, section- all steel types), a figure almost already equal to the Philippine annual demand.
The business mood right now is “no business- wait and see” attitude; no movement, no price quotation.

It's interesting to know that like China, Vietnam has cheap labor, even cheaper than the Philippines.

Vietnam in Perspective

Vietnam is a nation in a hurry. Years of French colonization and two great wars of independence, 1st against the French and the 2nd, against the Americans had put them among the least developed and the least progressive country even just in the ASEAN region. With the fall of the pro- western former South Vietnam government after the Americans finally pulled-out in 1975, what follows next was a reunification and redevelopment process with agricultural development made their 1st priority. Today, Vietnam is the 3rd largest rice exporting country, next only to Thailand and Brazil which is ranked 1st and 2nd respectively.

Saigon Here I Come!

My boss, a representative and a friend from Marubeni-Itochu Manila (one of our suppliers), and I went to Vietnam, specifically to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) early this month (November 2 – 5, 2008). The trip was arranged and coordinated by both the Marubeni-Itochu Office of Manila and Ho Chi Minh City.

The primary objective of the trip was to explore and determine potential suppliers of CRC, GI, Galvalume and PPGI materials, through plant visits and technical discussions. It likewise gave us an opportunity to understand and update the iron and steel industry of Vietnam, which is by virtue of its closeness to the Philippines, may stand not only as a potential supplier but also as a threat to the local industry. At this time, it has already started to enter the Philippine market.

On the the side, we were able to visit historical places and buildings like the famous French built Notre Dame Cathedral, the Colonial Port Office Building, the former US Embassy (gone however was the balcony where the famous last helicopter escape trip during the siege of Saigon took place; this was immortalized in the award winning play Miss Saigon, whose staging in CCP Manila my wife and I didn't miss), Rex Hotel (built by the French and reportedly the oldest hotel in Saigon), the Reunification Building, the park where the statue of Vietnam’s founding father, Ho Chi Minh stands, the Committee Secretariat Building, and many others.

Over-all, the trip to Vietnam was a fruitful, enjoyable and a learning experience for us.

Next post: "Vietnam in Perspective", and a link to more photos.