6 days Ago By Froilan Gallardo
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rapplerAds.displayAd( "mobile-middle-1" );MISAMIS ORIENTAL, Philippines – The Phividec Industrial Authority signed a 20-year lease agreement with a Thai-owned food conglomerate that will build a P1.2 billion food processing plant for frozen coconut meat and milk within the 3,000-hectare economic zone in Misamis Oriental.
Phividec Administrator Joseph Donato Bernedo said the P1.2-billion plant project of the conglomerate Thai World Group would bring new life to 153,000 coconut farmers, landowners, and tenants in Northern Mindanao.The Philippine Veterans Investment Development Corporation, a government-owned and controlled firm, oversees the development and management of the industrial estate in the province, one of the country’s largest industrial zones with its own power and water utilities, and access to a government-run seaport.
“This investment is a vote of confidence for Northern Mindanao,” Bernedo said during a press conference after the signing on Friday, April 11.Borcha Punyatarkorn, director of the Thai World Group, said their affiliate, Philco Food Processing Corporation, leased four hectares in the Phividec Industrial Estate to build their facility, which will be able to produce 78,000 tons of high-quality coconut milk.Punyatarkorn said the manufacturing plant would employ 1,500 workers and require 500,000 coconuts a day to produce the milk and frozen meat that would be exported to the US, Europe, and Asia.
“We will have coconut buying stations in Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte, Pagadian, and Dipolog. We like it here because the Philippines is the third biggest producer of coconuts in the world,” Punyatarkorn said.Punyatarkorn also said they like that Phividec has a good seaport where their products can be loaded onto waiting cargo ships.
Phividec officials said the Thai World Group will invest P770 million for manufacturing equipment, P200 million for buildings, and P167 million for working capital. – Rappler.com.
