Aboitiz food unit investing P1.7 B for feeds plants

CAPAS,Tarlac — Pilmico Foods Corp., the food unit of conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., will likely invest P1.7 billion over the next three years in a bid to ramp up its foothold in the local feeds industry.

Pilmico assistant vice president Roderick dela Cruz said bulk of the budget will be earmarked for the construction of two additional plants here and another in Iligan City which will cost approximately P500 million each. The balance will be used for other expenses such as technology.

“Our current total combined production is 113 metric tons (MT) (for both plants) per hour and by the next three years, we will hike that to 153 MT,” Dela Cruz said in a briefing yesterday.

As both Pilmico feed mill plants have reached 85 percent capacity, the next plan in order to maximize operations is to build new plants, he said.

“Our direction is to protect our market, grow our business and be the one stop shop and total provider for feeds, as well as grow our customer base in ASEAN,” Dela Cruz said.

While Pilmico is yet to export its feeds, Dela Cruz said that it is part of the plan but local consumption will remain its top priority for next year.

Pilmico aims to increase its foothold in the feeds industry by growing animal-feeds related businesses in the Philippines and export its feed products in Vietnam, Indonesia and the Pacific.

Last year, global feeds production increased four percent to reach 1.03 billion MT led by the poultry sector taking up 40 percent of total. In the Philippines alone, there are 489 feed mills, majority of which are in Luzon.