Global livestock feed manufacturer Gold Coin Holding's new feed plant was inaugurated last week in
Brunei. Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources Minister Datuk Yahya Pi was present at the ceremony and cut the ribbon.
The plant cost about 15 million. Gold Coin, which is a joint venture among Gold Coin Group of companies and Brunei's QAF Farms, Hua Ho Agriculture Farm and Soon Lee Holdings, also plans to provide 100 per cent of Brunei's feed requirenents with the construction of its second production line.
Gold Coin CEO Ian Glesson said the company may start exporting feed from the Sultanate by 2016. Gold Coin has been bringing in livestock feed in Brunei from its mill in Labuan before the new Brunei mill was built and started supplying to the local market in December 2013.
"Having built this, that means Labuan is now a lot smaller and we'll ultimately maybe not run the Labuan mill (anymore) and we can export to Labuan from Brunei," Glesson said at the official opening of the Brunei feed mill.
"The economics of the mill is such that the expensive stuff to move around is the finished good or the packed feed. It's cheaper to move the bulk material, such as corn and soy," he said.
He said the Brunei operations is looking to establish a second line of production by late 2015 and is looking to export to Kota Kinabalu and Limbang, apart from Labuan.
"Late next year, we will have the new line up and running, hopefully by the year after, we're starting to meet not only all of Brunei's market, but start the export. So probably, it will take one or two years to get the export up and running," Glesson said.
The plant plans to make full use of local raw materials to meet all the demand for feed, and next yearfeed will be exported to Malaysia Kota Kinabalu, Labuan and Limbang areas.
Gold Coin group of companies was established in Singapore in 1953, after which the business gradually expanded to Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Thailand. The group currently operates in nine countries, with a total of 22 factories, and an annual output of 2.5 million tonnes of feed.
The latest mill in Brunei is another milestone for the Group in extending its coverage and provide leading capacity in the region's feed industry. Gold Coin offers a wide range of products for both the livestock and aquaculture industries, including young animals, hatchery feed, premixes, concentrates, and compound feed.
The new mill in Brunei is focusing on livestock feed production mainly for the local market. The company aims to help the Brunei government attain food self-sufficiency.
