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Monday, January 16, 2006
Banana chip making keeps Sunbliss afloat
KORONADAL CITY -- With more and more people turning to healthy lifestyle, a local company here involved in the processing of banana chips has thrived for years giving junk food processors a run for their money.
Sunbliss Eximport Corp. banana chips have become an alternative snack food not just among the locals in this city and neighboring areas but also in some foreign countries, to say the least.
"The potential of banana chips is actually bright particularly in the markets of China, Europe, and US. The reason behind is that many people in recent years prefer natural food products over junk foods," Carlos Bautista, Sunbliss general manager, said.
Bautista said their banana chips reached foreign markets through a contact that they supply with the product processed in this city.
Because of the bright prospects of banana chips as an alternative healthy snack food, Sunbliss has embarked on an expansion project just at the outskirts of the locality.
The company expects to construct a P5 million modern banana chip processing plant to meet future demands of local and foreign buyers.
Bautista said they are just waiting for a bank to approve the loan that will finance further the construction of the facility.
But even without advanced processing facilities, Sunbliss could produce 1,000 kilos of banana chips in one production operation, he claimed.
The firm's banana chips come in two flavors, fried in plain oil or sweetened with sugar.
Sources of raw cardava banana for processing into finished products are not a problem in the area as plantations abound in the towns of Tampakan in South Cotabato and as far as Buluan in Maguindanao.
Bautista was referring to the banana plantations owned by the Lorenzo family (Global Fruits in Tampakan) and the one founded by former Datu Paglas mayor Ibrahim "Toto" Paglas in Buluan town.
While Sunbliss buys raw cardava variety, locally known as saba, from institutional producers, the firm maintains its own tract of banana plantation in one of the villages in the city.
Bautista said the firm was able to establish its product with the help of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
"Initially, the agency helped us in the sourcing of raw materials and included us in the producer listing," he added. The firm is an active member of the Exporters' List of Central Mindanao.
Sunbliss is also a member of the Philippine Exporters' Federation and the Philippine Food Processors and Exporters.
Presently, Bautista said they are actively seeking the help of foreign funding institutions, particularly the consular offices of rich Western countries, to help them improve their product.
While the firm has quietly survived nearly two decades of existence, Bautista said, establishing relationship with buyers is still a difficult thing because it needs constant follow-ups.
As far as his company's experiences are concerned, he added that "it takes one year after the first contact was made to eventually forge a longtime seller-buyer relationship."
Sunbliss has been into national and international trade shows just to promote its product.
Late last year, the firm was one of the three companies in Central Mindanao chosen to take part at the Shenzhen Consumer Goods Procurement Fair in Guangdong province, China.
Sunbliss was the only small-and-medium scale enterprise taken to the China summit, the rest being large corporations like Dole Philippines Inc. and Marsman-Drysdale, which are engaged in pineapple and asparagus production.
Bautista said the trip helped local firms to study the emerging Guangdong market.
Guangdong, currently experiencing an economic boom, has four of China's special economic zones that allow the importation of goods at half the normal import duty rates, according to DTI assistant director Dorecita Delima.
"It enjoys the highest per capita income in China and the highest levels of investments from Hong Kong," she said.
Banana chips are among the processed products that regional trade officials want to promote in Central Mindanao region to the rest of the country and the world.
Bautista believed his firm will still be around for years to come considering the noted preference of consumers over healthy snack foods in recent years. (RBS)
(January 16, 2006 issue)
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