Oishi food snack maker to expand RP presence

NINGBO CITY, China – Manufacturing giant Liwayway (China) Co., Ltd., maker of the popular Oishi brand of snack foods, announced they will increase their investments in the Philippines as the company is set to open a manufacturing facility in Tarlac next year.

In an interview with The STAR, chairman Larry Chan said that they are opening their fourth facility in the Philippines, which will be operational soon in Tarlac.

The Philippine operations make up about 30 percent of the entire operations of Liwayway, Chan noted.

In the Philippines, the main manufacturing facility is located in Imus, Cavite, with satellite factories in Cagayan de Oro and Cebu City, to strengthen the nationwide distribution. Oishi products are also exported to Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong, among others.

“We are expanding our operations and we are expecting an increase in sales for next year,” Chan said during a plant tour for the Friendship Delegation to China composed of select members of the Tuesday Club headed by Dr. Lucio C. Tan and Carlos Chan. Aside from their operations in China and the Philippines, Liwayway also has a presence in Vietnam and Myanmar.

Chan expressed confidence that they will be able to increase their market share because as of the present, they are only serving less than half of the 1.3 billion Chinese population.

Chan said they would like to increase sales by 15 percent next year.

According to him, their facility in China can produce up to 80,000 cases per day, during peak months, but on the average their production is half at 40,000 cases.

Chan said that Oishi is the preferred snack of the Chinese market outselling even a popular American brand because they have a wide range of products made through a wide variety of processes. Currently, their product line has expanded to over 50 variants of salty snacks, cereals, popcorn, cookies, powdered juices, and sauces.

The best seller, Chan said, is still the Kirei Yummy Flakes, which makes up eight percent of total sales.

Liwayway Marketing Corp., a Filipino company first ventured into China in 1993, under the leadership of its patriarch and taipan Carlos Chan. It started with two companies in Shanghai: Shanghai Liwayway Food Industries Litd. and Shanghai Prawn Cracker Foodstuff Company Ltd.

Since then, the China operations have grown to 12 plants located all over the mainland under the head company, Liwayway (China) Co. Ltd.

Liwayway also set up production facilities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 1997 and in Yangon, Myanmar in 1999, where Oishi is now the leading snack food brand.