Franchising 101: How to start a franchise business in the Philippines
According to the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Philippines is the 7th largest franchise market in the world. There's strong demand in both food and non-food sectors, with thousands of opportunities across retail, healthcare, logistics, education, and more.
The Philippine Franchise Association advises not to fall easily for offers that sound too good to be true. Do your research on the brand, its track record, and whether it already has successful franchisees.
Your goals will help determine what type of franchise suits you best.Take the time to study it carefully and seek advice from experts. SBS Filipino
03/06/2025 08:44 📢 Where to Catch SBS Filipino
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
The iron ore and steel market moves with the times as Pilbara mines degrade
Aussie iron ore grades have been declining for years Steel mills in China have been adapting to lower grades and higher impurities from Pilbara ores Fastmarkets launches new 61% Fe Index to reflect shifting sands of iron ore and steel market For several years the calling cry of the iron ore market was that grades would need to push higher, products become cleaner and quality control tighter to meet the demands of a Chinese steel sector seeking to reduce the emissions of its heavily polluting industry. In reality the opposite has happened. And the market has shown its inexhaustible adaptability in the face of changes thrust on it by macroeconomic pressures. This week just gone Chinese rebar futures tumbled to an eight-year low amid a property sector bust that has torpedoed the profitability of China's steel mills. Yet Chinese steel production remains on track to settle around the billion tonne mark for a sixth straight year. The response from mill operators has been to use lower grade material that costs less, aided by lower coking coal prices. It also measures up with what the Pilbara's majors have been shipping. Grades from BHP (ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto's (ASX:RIO) Pilbara mines have been sliding for years. Rio, notably, recently told customers its Pilbara Blend fines would drop from long term grades of 61.6% Fe to 60.8% Fe from July to September this year. BHP downgraded its Mining Area C and Newman High Grade Fines products last year. It reflects a trend that will continue until the majors invest in replacement mines that can arrest the decline, now seemingly baked into their operations, with BHP and RIO regularly reporting price realisations at a discount to the Platts 62% IODEX. In response another price setter, Fastmarkets, has delivered one of the biggest changes to its indices in years, with the launch of a 61% Fe index. Its first trading day on Monday June 2 reported that price a US$92.09/t, below the 62% Fe benchmark of US$93.65/t. In many ways, it will likely give investors, and bean counters at the WA and Federal Governments, a more accurate picture of how much Rio and BHP's iron ore is actually pulling in. "I think there's a lot of interest over the 61% index as it now starts to represent the major mid-grade iron ore segment, especially for Australian ores," Fastmarkets regional managing editor Paul Lim said. "So I think miners and investors all around the world will be looking at the 61% Fe Index as a key barometer of how the Australian mining sector as well as how the Chinese economy is doing as a whole." Both sides of the belt The relationship between Australia's iron ore mines and China's steel market is often described as a conveyor belt which runs over the ocean. So smooth is the network from mine to port in the Pilbara to factory door in Hebei, that it has enabled BHP, Rio, Roy Hill and Fortescue (ASX:FMG) to run at costs that make them the most profitable in the mining sector globally. Even at record prices, gold producers are only now pulling in sales revenues at levels approaching double their cost base. Iron ore miners, on the other hand, receive sales prices that are roughly four times their per tonne cash costs, and that's in a bearish market. With grades slipping from the iron ore majors, Chinese steel mills have adapted to cope, in ways that also help them stem losses caused by weak domestic steel demand. The 61% Fe Index incorporates material that not only has lower Fe grades than the 62% Fe benchmark but also higher impurities – partly a function of grade. Steel mills are becoming more accepting of ore with higher silica and alumina (4.3% and 2.5% for the 61% index vs 4% and 2.3% for the 62% index), adapting their blast furnaces to refined discounted product. "It depends on many factors, right? So, number one, the typical Chinese steelmaker is quite different now from the past, so now China is very skilled at blending ores and even with the weak steel margins they are willing to take on ores with higher impurities," Lim said. Those ores are blended with domestic magnetite concentrates or pellet feed to get specs right in the blast furnace. "The main driver is always profitability, they are looking for economical blends, so they are willing to take ores which are priced lower but have higher contaminant levels," Lim said. "Coal is also cheap so it's easy for them to buy the cheap fuel to just burn through the lower grade iron ores. " This produces a higher amount of slag, but they're OK with this. They will just remove the slag, and there's no need for increased productivity." What does this mean for high grade? Does this mean margin squeeze will squeeze high grade iron ore just as majors complete investments into new sources – Fortescue at its Iron Bridge magnetite project in the Pilbara and Rio/China at the Simandou project in Guinea, West Africa. Maybe not. As Lim stated, China's steelmakers have become adept at blending ores. "The increase in contaminant levels as well as low Fe will have implications for other ores around the world – it will support high grade iron ore prices, it's just at this moment China may not be seeking as much high grade iron ore," he said. " So this change is actually good for high grade producers around the world." Industry participants have made similar comments, with the volume of iron ore suitable for use in lower emissions steelmaking technologies like direct reduced iron restricted by deposit grades and purity specifications. That means most high grade iron ores will have value in blending with low grade ores to reduce emissions in blast furnaces. "The best way to (reduce emissions), if you wanted to have an immediate impact, would be basically just to put cleaner ores in your blast furnaces," Cyclone Metals (ASX:CLE) CEO Paul Berend, whose firm is working with Brazil's Vale to develop the Iron Bear magnetite project in Canada, said. "If you've got cleaner ores, you use less energy, less energy means less pollution, less CO2." With the quality of hematite DSO ores degrading, Berend said WA miners had been slower than international producers like Vale to develop resources with potential to supply higher grade from magnetites.
ABC News
6 hours ago
- ABC News
South Korea's new president Lee Jae-myung will be busy balancing relations with the US, China and North Korea
South Korea's new president has a gargantuan job ahead. After six months of political chaos, three different interim presidents, protests and legal battles, deep divisions have been exposed in what's considered one of Asia's most successful democracies. President Lee Jae-myung has experienced the worst of this himself. After he survived a serious assassination attempt early last year, he'd been campaigning behind bullet proof glass and wearing a bulletproof vest. Healing society's wounds will be chief among his priorities as he begins his new role. "I will build a truly happy community where we coexist and cooperate over hatred and confrontation," he told supporters as the votes were being finalised. "What the president is responsible for is harmony among others." Voters went to the polls exactly six months to the day since impeached conservative leader Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, throwing South Korea into chaos. Politicians — including Lee Jae-myung — scaled fences and fended off armed officers to enter the National Assembly so they could vote to block the declaration. They did so successfully and Yoon lifted the order after only six hours, but it dredged up painful memories of South Korea's authoritarian past. Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans rallied calling for Yoon's resignation and impeachment over following weeks. Standing on the wide road leading up to the country's National Assembly, flanked by thousands of other protesters, one young woman cried as she told th ABC she feared that South Korea's democracy had been destroyed. "I think it's tragic, I've lived in a democratic country my whole life and suddenly I feel it's not democratic anymore," she said. Retired teacher Seo Haewoon lived through the last time the government declared martial law more than 40 years ago. He was shocked to see it happen again. "I was looking for a job, four months after finishing my military service, when I saw the martial law army coming, suppressing the civilians," he told the ABC of the declaration in the late 1970s. "I was very confused and shocked. It is still a trauma for me." But Mr Seo is hopeful the country has now learned a valuable lesson. "All political turmoil should be resolved via communication and democratic methods, not with the guns or martial law," he said. "I believe students today have learned the value of democracy. They are looking for a fair society. If the politicians do any bad things like last year, I'm pretty sure the students would rally again. "Martial law cannot be accepted. This demolishes democracy." South Korean media reported that Mr Lee began his official duties at 6.21am, before even being inaugurated. He won't benefit from the usual two month transition period, considering the country was on its third interim president before his election. And there's no doubt there's plenty of urgent work to do. Many South Koreans the ABC spoke to were concerned about the country's economy, some even said they thought Yoon's martial law had deterred tourists from visiting. The other chief concern is negotiating with the US, South Korea's most important ally. The revolving door of presidents over the last few months has stymied South Korea's ability to finalise a deal with the White House. US President Donald Trump wants to put 25 per cent tariffs on South Korea. He also wants the country to pay more for the 28,000 American troops stationed here to deter nuclear armed North Korea. Under Yoon, tensions with the North had grown. Mr Lee is more open to communicating with Pyongyang and fostering on regional alliances, rather than putting all the focus on the US. "I will try my best to recover the economy, restoring livelihoods as soon as possible so that you can come to an end with this difficult periods," Mr Lee told his supporters. "I will build up a peaceful and coexisting Korean peninsula with dominant national defence power, clearly deterring North Korea. "I am sure that genuine security derives from winning without fighting rather than confrontation. With inter-Korean communication we will come to a common prosperity." Navigating these relationships will be one of the key challenges for the new president, according to Chun Chaesung, a professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Seoul National University. "How to maintain a strong US Alliance? That's very difficult, because these days, the US is showing the so called MAGA realism, and President Trump doesn't put more put much emphasis upon the alliance partner," he said. "So it'll be very hard for him to strengthen the alliance, which is critical in deterring North Korea risk of actions in the future." And of course, just across the Yellow Sea, Mr Lee needs to navigate relations with China. "Now the bilateral relationship is really bad, and President Lee thinks that we have to recover the relationship with China, because China is the number one trading partner of South Korea, like your country," Professor Chun said. "So how to achieve these two very difficult, incompatible purposes — which is to maintain [the US] Alliance and recover relations with China — it will be very critical." While many, including Mr Lee, will be hoping his election marks the end of a sorry chapter of South Korea's history, it's likely there is more drama to play out. Yoon is still on trial for insurrection, and he's been indicted for abuse of power. Many of his supporters still feel he's been unfairly treated. And Mr Lee isn't without legal troubles himself. His candidacy was briefly thrown into doubt when the Supreme Court overturned his acquittal for an alleged election law violation. If found guilty he would have been barred from running. The court postponed the retrial until June 18, saying it was "in order to guarantee a fair electioneering opportunity to the defendant, who is a presidential candidate, and eliminate controversies about the fairness of the trial". It's unclear now if that will still go ahead, or if Mr Lee will benefit from presidential immunity. The election result too speaks to the deep divisions remaining in South Korean society. Professor of Political Science at Pusan National University, Robert Kelly, said the outcome — with only 8 per cent between Mr Lee and Mr Kim — should have been a slam dunk for the president-elect's progressive Democratic Party. "The big take-away of the [South] Korean presidential election is not the leftist's victory, but the strength of the right despite the huge scandal of the previous conservative president imposing martial law last year," he posted on X. "If anything should lead to a wave election, it should be impeachment. But it still didn't happen. "That's how polarised South Korean politics is. Wow." Mr Lee's own story exemplifies the magnificent transition the country has seen over his life time. Growing up in poverty, he didn't finish school. Instead, he worked in sweatshops and factories as a teen and was seriously injured in a machinery accident. But he managed to pass the university entrance exam, eventually becoming a human rights lawyer before entering politics. This is his second time running for president — he lost in 2022 to Yoon Suk Yeol by the narrowest margin in South Korea's democratic history. But this time around, with the highest voter turnout in nearly 30 years, Professor Chun argues Mr Lee is in a strong position. "This is the highest vote in 21st century South Korea, reflecting the public's interest and eagerness to move beyond instability and show the resilience of democracy," he told the ABC. "Secondly, Lee Jae-myung took office with a vast majority in the Congress. "So he is backed by a parliamentary majority for his party, which is giving him a very rare, unified government, a strong mandate." But with that, comes the responsibility to meet the expectations of South Koreans hoping to put this saga behind them. Cho Seoyeon, a mother of three told the ABC: "I hope we can live in a better Korea, with our kids — with our next generation — in a better, peaceful place."
SBS Australia
16 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Indian actor Gulshan Grover: From reel life ‘bad man' to real life family man
Find all our podcasts here at: SBS Hindi Podcast Collection. SBS Hindi 30/05/2025 03:57 SBS Hindi 03/06/2025 11:21
