URC acquires Iloilo sugar mill

Universal Robina Corp., the snack food and beverage manufacturing arm of Gokongwei (URC) holding firm JG Summit Holdings Inc., has acquired the manufacturing assets of the Iloilo-based PASSI Sugar Central Inc.  

URC president and chief operating officer Lance Y. Gokongwei said the purchase would “catapult the company to become the Philippines’ second largest sugar miller and refiner.”

PASSI is the largest raw sugar producer in the island of Panay, operating two sugar mills with a combined milling capacity of about 8,000 tons of cane per day. Milling season normally starts in October of each year.

URC, on the other hand,  currently operates cane sugar mills and refineries in Cagayan Valley in Luzon (Carsumco), Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental (Sonedco), and in Manjuyod, Negros Oriental (Ursumco), with a combined milling capacity of 17,000 tons of cane per day and total refining capacity of 17,000 50-kg bags per day.

In fiscal year 2006, URC produced approximately 166,000 metric tons of raw sugar and 1.7 million 50-kg bags of refined sugar.

URC is currently expanding its Sonedco milling capacity by an additional 4,000 tons of cane per day. The expansion is scheduled for completion next month.  It recently commissioned a new refinery in the Negros Occidental-based mill, increasing its refining capacity by 15,000 50-kg bags per day.

URC is one of the largest branded food companies in the Philippines and an emerging major player in Southeast Asia while its parent firm JG Summit is one of the country’s most diversified conglomerates with major businesses in property development, telecommunications, air transportation, petrochemicals and financial services.