ABOITIZ-LED Pilmico Food Corp. will continue expanding its feed milling capacities in Asia amid the growing demand in the region.
Of the P69 billion capital expenditure set aside by the Aboitiz Group this year, Pilmico and Gold Coin Group have been allocated P6 billion for its various projects including the expansion of feed mills in China and Vietnam.
“We have various initiatives that are either underway or will be started in the coming months to support the growth of our company and to help us achieve our vision of being a leading integrated food and agribusiness player in the future,” said Tristan Aboitiz, Pilmico president and chief executive officer in a virtual press briefing.
After completing the feed mills last year in the Philippines and Malaysia, one of the priorities of the food group in 2022, according to Aboitiz, is the expansion of the feed milling capacity in China and to finish the construction in Vietnam.
“These are regions where today we have solid production base already and we want to ensure that we continue to build on that in the coming years,” said Aboitiz.
“There is a growing demand for protein-rich products in the region which opens a lot of opportunities... These expansions should begin in the second half of this year,” he added.
In the food and nutrition side, Aboitiz said they are looking at completing the construction and loading of a new breeder farm in Nueva Ecija this year.
“As you all know that the Philippines is in short supply of locally produced pork due to the impact of the African swine fever and this investment and others like it in the future aims to address this and cement our company as a key player in the protein value-chain of the Philippines,” he said.
Aboitiz also announced the company’s commitment to grow its “Good Meat” retail footprint.
“We will expand our retail footprint of the Good Meat across Metro Manila to add eight stores within the year,” he said.
Aboitiz added that they are also in the process of exploring the food and nutrition space in countries like Malaysia and Vietnam.