JG Summit sets aside P795M for ethanol project

Gokongwei-owned JG Summit Holdings Inc. (JGSHI) is investing P795 million through a still unnamed subsidiary company to produce ethanol fuel project using sugar molasses as feed stock from two other Gokongwei-owned sugar mills in Negros.

The feedstock would be sourced from Southern Negros Development Corp. (SONEDCO) located in Kabankalan, and Universal Robina Sugar Milling Corp. (URSUMCO), located in Manjuyod, both in Negros Occidental.

The new ethanol plant would also be located in Negros Occidental and would be designed to produce 100,000 liters a day of fuel-grade anhydrous ethanol suitable for gasoline blending.

The projected annual output of the new ethanol plant is 30 million liters which would be sold to gasoline suppliers.

The new ethanol fuel project has gotten non-pioneer registration approval from the Board of Investments (BOI) entitling it to a four year income tax holiday and duty-free importation of capital equipment.

It actually applied for pioneer status.

However, the BOI did not grant the pioneer status because the investment is below P1 billion and it has not proven that it will utilize new and clean technology.

The project’s status, however, could be upgraded to pioneer status if it is able to prove that it will use new and clean technology.

SONEDCO and URSUMCO are subsidiaries of Universal Robina Corp. (URC).

URC is one of the largest food product companies in the country with a growing presence in other Asian markets.

URC was founded in 1954 by John Gokongwei Jr. but was initially known as Universal Corn Products, a cornstarch manufacturing plant in Pasig.

URC is now engaged in the manufacture and distribution of a wide range of food products including consumer foods, production of hogs and day-old chicks, animal and fish feeds, glucose and veterinary compounds, flour milling, and sugar milling and refining.

The company operates its food business through operating divisions and wholly or majority-owned subsidiaries that are organized into three core business segments: branded consumer foods, agro-industrial products and commodity food products.

SONEDCO and URSUMCO belong to URC’s commodity food products segment.

A division of URSUMCO is Cagayan Robina Sugar Milling Corp. (CARSUMCO).