JG Summit Holdings Inc. remains upbeat on its international business as its food and airline subsidiaries capitalize on the opportunities in Asia as well as on the down trend in commodity prices.
Lance Gokongwei, JG Summit president and chief operating officer, told reporters that Universal Robina Corp. and Cebu Air Inc. will benefit from the continued growth in the region.

“Europe and America might be slowing down but Asia will continue to grow albeit at a slower rate than expected,” Gokongwei said on the sidelines of the Asean 100 Leadership Forum.

JG Summit said it approaches its food and airline businesses from a regional perspective as they take advantage of the opportunities presented in the planned integration of the 10 Asean economies by 2015.

“That’s the only way the Philippines and the individual Asean countries can compete, to look at ourselves as a single bloc or else China and Japan will just overwhelm each one of us,” said Gokongwei.

The executive said commodity prices are on a down trend—a development that would become obvious in the fourth quarter.

“The drop in commodity prices is very positive for companies such as URC and Cebu Pacific which uses a lot of commodity as our inputs so we’re hoping for positive years ahead in the coming 2012,” he said.

Rising commodity prices prompted URC to trim its profit guidance from flat to a 10-percent contraction, or to P7.68 billion in its fiscal year 2010.

Amid concerns of a global economic slowdown, the food and beverage company’s overseas operations continue to grow by 40 percent in dollar terms, Gokongwei said.

The company’s international business is expected to equal the size of its domestic operations by 2014.

JG Summit shares rose 0.49 percent to P20.40 each on Thursday, while URC shares added 5.54 percent to P40 apiece. Cebu Air shares climbed to P71.20 from P70.