Charoen Pokphand Foods Philippines Corp., a unit of one of Thailand’s largest food conglomerates, is investing P2.36 billion to put up an aqua feed mill plant in Capas, Tarlac, Philippines.
The company, a wholly- owned subsidiary of the Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Co. Ltd. Thailand, one of Asia’s largest food conglomerates, will produce fish and shrimp feeds in pelletized, crumbled and extruded forms by using the latest machineries and equipment acquired from China and Europe, records at the Board of Investment show.
The plant, which will have four production lines of aqua feeds, will have an annual capacity of 114,000 metric tons. The BoI said project was expected to generate 209 new jobs and would start commercial operations in January 2011.
The proposed plant would sit on a relatively flat terrain and a contiguous area of eight to 10 hectares along the national highway.
The facility will include control centers equipped with modern computers and programmable logic control programs, extruders, pelletizers, pulverizers, hammer mills and crumbling machines. The site will also have its own raw material and finished feeds warehouses and waste disposal system.
The company has secured incentives from the BoI with a pioneer status as a new registrant in agriculture, agribusiness and fishery.
The BoI said the project would give boost to the potential of aquatic production in the Philippines and the revival of the shrimp industry. It noted Charoen Pokphand Foods’ cost-efficient technology to produce quality feeds and shrimp feeds.
The white shrimp variety is being groomed as the next sunrise industry in aquaculture. White shrimp accounts for nearly 80 percent of global production share, with Asian countries contributing nearly 75 percent.
The BoI said the project was a welcome news in the aquaculture as it uplifts the fisheries sector in its quest to be globally competitive.
Charoen Pokphand Foods is primarily engaged in animal food production, animal farming, meat processing and the manufacturing of food products. The Bangkok-based company employs over 23,000 people and posted sales of $4.8 billion and a net profit of $180 million in 2008.
The conglomerate covers the entire cycle of the agro-industrial sector, ranging from sourcing raw materials and animal feed production, manufacturing animal feeds, breeding animals, farming animals for commercial purposes, processing meat and manufacturing processed food products, to distributing products to domestic and oversea consumers.
