The Board of Investments approved the P5.7-billion expansion of Pure Foods Hormel Company Inc., a unit of San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc., under the preferred activities of the agribusiness and fishery sector of the Investment Priorities Plan.
The expansion project qualified for “commercial processing,” which entails the conversion of agricultural and fishery products or wastes into a form ready for further processing or final consumption.
The company, a joint venture between conglomerate San Miguel Corp. and Hormel Netherlands Inc., has been into meat processing, especially hotdog, since 2006.
Expected to start commercial operations in December 2017, the hotdog plant will add another 61,200 metric tons per year to the current 60,000 MTPY in its plant in General Trias, Cavite.
The expansion project, once operational, will hire an additional 1,242 personnel to boost operations.
The company will use domestically-produced raw materials such as casings, meat and spices as well as imported ingredients.
As much as 98 percent of the production will be sold to the local market and the balance to the export market.
The project plans to collaborate with local farmers within the area of operations for the supply of cassava feeds for its hogs. Hogs, a major raw material in the production of hotdogs, will be raised using feeds made out of cassava.
Through the company’s cassava assembler program, about 500 individual farmers will be organized into a cooperative to cultivate about 500 hectares of cassava plantation.
A hectare can cultivate around 1,000 to 1,500 metric tons of cassava. The cassava yield will be solar dried and processed into chips, which will then be supplied as feeds for the hogs.
The program features a guaranteed market with purchase agreement, floor prices, start-up technical assistance, and research and development activities to improve yield and quality.
Trade Secretary and BoI Chairman Ramon Lopez said the project was in line with the government’s inclusive business thrust, which aims to reduce poverty, generate more jobs, and sustain inclusive growth.
The BOI, he said, was encouraging registered enterprises to adopt IB strategies that providesgoods and services and income and decent work opportunities for the low-income segment of the society within the enterprise’s supply or value chain, directly contributing to the improvement of living standards and poverty reduction.
Industry data showed the meat processing industry in the Philippines is a P300-billion market that provides jobs to around 300,000 Filipinos.