‘Cracker costs up, demand low

SEASONAL EMPLOYMENT A worker finishes making sparklers in Bocaue, his wage forming part of fireworks makers’ production costs.NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

BOCAUE, BULACAN—Revelers, who intend to welcome 2019 with a bang, have found prices of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic products 10 percent higher in most stalls in Bocaue, the so-called fireworks capital of the country.

The high cost of materials and chemicals used to produce fireworks and the anticipated slowdown of demand due to regulations that require people to use firecrackers in regulated zones, have led to the price hike, said Leah Alapide, president of a group of fireworks manufacturers and dealers in Bocaue.

She said manufacturers produced a smaller quantity of firecrackers such as “Judas Belt,” “sawa” (a type of Judas Belt with 500 rounds of firecrackers), “Five Star,” and “kuwitis” (skyrocket).

Duterte order

Fireworks with 49 shots, which used to cost P3,000, are sold for P4,000 to P4,500. The 16-shot fireworks sell for P900, up from P650, while “Fountain” sparklers are sold from P200 to P250. Each skyrocket can be bought for P4 to P5, up from P2.50 to P3.

“Sawa” with 3,000 rounds, used to sell for P1,000 but is now priced at P1,200 to P1,500 per set. The 2,000-round sawa sells for P1,000, up from P800 to P900, while the 100-round variety, which used to cost P50 to P60, is sold for P70.

In October, President Duterte issued a memorandum stopping the police firearms and explosives office from processing late applications for licenses to manufacture pyrotechnics.

This may explain why only a small number of factories produced fireworks this year, according to Celso Cruz, president emeritus of Philippine Pyrotechnic Manufacturers and Dealers Association Inc.

In Bohol, firecracker vendors in the province reported improved sales this year.

Ashary Macatoon Macabangkit said he failed to recover his P200,000 investment last year because only a few bought firecrackers.

All legal

Macabangkit is among the vendors allowed to put up makeshift tents along the highway at Barangay Sta. Cruz in

Baclayon town, one of the designated areas for firecracker trade in the province.

Selling of firecrackers had been banned in the capital city of Tagbilaran.

Macabangkit said sales had been brisk since Christmas Eve. From Dec. 21 to Dec. 25, he earned P48,000 compared to P11,000 he got last year.

Macabangkit said their products were from legitimate sources.

“We would not make money if we sell illegal firecrackers because the police would confiscate these,” he said.—REPORTS FROM CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE AND LEO UDTOHAN