MURCIA, Negros Occidental—The municipality of Murcia in this province has just welcomed one of its biggest investments to date—the P350-million state-of-the-art Sapporo cold storage facility and ice plant of Czark Mak Corporation Group of Companies.
Czark Mak Corp. inaugurates a state-of-the-art cold storage and ice making facility in Murcia, Negros Occidental. Attending the event are (from left) Quirino Governor Dakila Cua, Murcia vice mayor Johnny Reosura, Philippine British Assurance Co. president Charrie Cuyegkeng, CZM Group of Companies executive vice president Caesar Angelo Wongchuking, CZM director Melissa Wongchuking, CZM chairman and president Caesar Wongchuking, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Murcia Mayor Gerry Rojas, Ateneo de Iloilo president Fr. Raymond Sanchez and former Senator Franklin Drilon.
The investment includes those for the solar power, real estate and planned dry warehouses.
CZM’s businesses all over the country include real estate, manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, agribusiness, food and hospitality, and technology, among others, even as it continues to explore new business opportunities and to expand its current customer reach.
The construction of the cold storage facility is expected to be completed this month, with start of commercial operation scheduled for the third week of July.
It will have a capacity of 1728 pallet positions, with five frozen rooms, two chiller rooms and two blast freezing rooms.
The facility, which was approved by the Board of Investment for non-pioneer status registration, offers services that include storage rental, warehouse management, blasting services, and handling and logistics services and will cater to products such as dairy, vegetables, fruits, fishery, and poultry.
Sapporo provides both cold storage solutions for blasting and freezing. It has chillers for agricultural products not required to be stored below zero degree Celsius. The manufacturing activity of Sapporo will supply crystallized tube ice and crushed ice not only to restaurants but also agro-industrial companies engaged in poultry and fisheries.
It will serve not only the needs of agricultural and other producers in Murcia but also nearby areas in the province such as Bacolod, Bago, Talisay, Silay, Don Salvador Benedicto, among others.
CZM also operates a cold storage facility and ice plant in Guiguinto, Bulacan through unit Acro Ice as well as an ice plant and soon cold storage in Batangas under another unit, The Service Warehouse.
CZM chairman and president Caesar Wongchuking said they identified Negros as one of their preferred areas of investment for the company’s cold chain portfolio as the region is heavy in agriculture and identified by the administration as one of the key growth areas.
Sapporo Ice and Cold Storage Company Inc., he said, is gearing towards Triple A classification from the National Meat Inspection Service with its modern facilities and equipment, the same used by its sister company Nordic Atlantic Logistics Inc. which was awarded a Double A classification on its initial operation and is expected to achieve triple A status upon next inspection.
He said their cold storage facility would play a vital role in the preservation of the harvest at the farmer’s level, adding that their Murcia facility is strategically located to cater to the farmers in the area and will provide solutions in improving efficiencies and decreasing wastage of the crops.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. recently ordered the setting up of cold storage facilities at various fish ports across the country to reduce post-harvest losses, especially after the Bureau of Fisheries revealed that fish spoilage is between 25 to40 percent due to lack of facilities like cold storage warehouses.
Wongchuking said they are having initial talks with local government units on providing cold storage solutions to lower mortalities and losses. “We believe that our facility will be beneficial to farmers and fishermen alike in improving their income,” he said.
He said the CZM group and its associates are present in Iloilo, Murcia, Malolos in Bulacan and Batangas City for its cold chain business, but is already looking at future sites in Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Tuguegarao.
During the facility’s inauguration on July 1, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said in an interview that the cold storage facility could help improve the productivity and incomes of farmers and livestock raisers and reduce their dependence on middlemen.
He said the provincial government could help like farmers’ associations and cooperatives to this facility where they can store their produce for longer periods of time instead of selling their harvests directly to middlemen at lower prices to reduce the risk of spoilage.
Murcia Mayor Victor Gerardo Rojas said the Sapporo cold storage facility is expected to contribute greatly to the economy of the municipality as well as nearby towns since it can serve as an anchor that can attract business locators, especially those that will be needing the services of the facility.
Rojas said the ice from Sapporo’s plant would be definitely be clean and of good quality considering that even before it is filtered in the plant, the water to be used is already clean as it comes from natural springs. He said that in fact, the water being supplied by the Murcia water district to residential and commercial users does not even have to be filtered as it directly comes from the natural spring.
Also present during the inauguration is Quirino Governor Dakila Carlo Cua, national president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines and national chairman of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, said that this new facility established by CZM without a single centavo from the government is very important since it will help boost the income of farmers whose produce can have extended shelf life.
“The future is really about logistics. The problem of huge post-harvest losses of our agricultural sector due to, among others, lack of adequate cold storage facilities, is something that should be addressed in order to make our products to be competitive vis-à-vis our neighbors in the region like Vietnam, which is far ahead in terms of agricultural production,” he said.
Meanwhile, former Senator Franklin Drilon said Region VI last year had the single biggest growth rate of all 17 regions at 19.3 percent and CZM sees this as an opportunity.
He said the private sector plays a huge role in helping to increase agriculture production and productivity and that with a cold storage facility, farmers can time the releases of their produce and manage supply and prices instead of flooding the market during harvest time that has always brought down farm gate prices to the detriment of Filipino farmers.
