US agriculture conglomerate Cargill plans to increase its investments in the Philippines and may build a new feedmill in the Visayas or Mindanao, a top executive said Thursday.
Cargill Philippines president Philip Soliven said the company was identifying areas where it could put more investments.
“We’re looking at a broad spectrum of investments in the Philippines. The Philippines is an attractive market for us. The business environment here remains positive and we are confident that our business will continue to grow,” Soliven said during the company’s first news briefing in 70 years in the country.
Cargill posted an annual growth rate of 11 percent over the last 10 years. In 2017, the netbook value of the company’s assets grew fourfold to P10.7 billion from P2.4 billion in 2004.
“Last year was a significant year of investments for us in a very long time. We built two plants in a year. That says a lot. This year, we will have to make another investment decision,” Soliven said.
The company teamed up with Jollibee Foods Corp. to form Cargill Joy Poultry Meats Production Inc. that will operate a poultry dressing plant that can process up to 45 million heads annually. It will supply the domestic requirement of Jollibee and affiliate companies such as Mang Inasal, Burger King, Chow King and Greenwich.
The facility in Sto. Tomas, Batangas was built to accommodate a calculated increase in capacity as demand grows.
Cargill also constructed a $12-million premix feeds plant under its animal nutrition category to serve medium to large livestock farms and feed millers.
The plant manufactures premix feed solutions under Provimi brand. It is Cargill’s fifth animal nutrition facility in the Philippines and the first plant dedicated to manufacturing Provimi premix solutions.
Cargill is active in four business areas in the Philippines, including animal nutrition, poultry products, grains and oils and food and beverage ingredients.
It began operating in the Philippines in 1947 and now has over 1,000 employees across 22 locations.