RD Corp to put up $15-million tuna cannery

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino owned RD Corp. announced they will be investing $15 million for a new plant in General Santos City for its canned tuna export business.

RD Group chairman Rodrigo Rivera Sr. said that they will be starting the new cannery in the first quarter next year. The group already has six canneries in General Santos City.

They also have operations in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Their plant in Indonesia produces 80 metric tons while the one in Papua New Guinea produces 200 metric tons.

The new cannery will increase their output from 140 tons per day to 200 tons daily. Likewise, the new cannery will create 1,200 to 1,500 new jobs.

Rivera said that the canned tuna business is a very labor intensive business. Currently they have 11,000 employees, 7,000 of which are in General Santos City. He revealed that 90 percent of their employees are women.

RD Corp. is the biggest exported of canned tuna. They export 380 million metric tons per year. Rivera said that one container costs $40,000. They export 14 containers every day.

He said that 30 percent of the canned tuna they produce are exported. Aside from canned tuna, Rodrigo noted that they are also selling scrap of fish overseas.

RD Corp. is composed of four fishing companies namely RD Fishing Industry Inc, RD Tuna Ventures Inc., South Sea Fishing Ventures Philippines Inc. and Asia Pacific Allied Fishing Ventures Corp.

The RD Fishing’s fishing fleet counts102 vessels – 18 catchers, eight reefer carriers, 17 fish carriers, 49 Ranger/Light Boats, 1 Tanker, 1 Tugboat and  eight other support vessels.

The combined fishholding capacity of the fleet’s superseiners ranges from 450 to 1,200 metric tons; while the reef carriers have a maximum capacity of 2,400 metric tons.

RD Food Processing and Export Corp. is the export marketing arm of RD Corp., located inside the General Santos City Fish Port Complex.

RDEX processes and trades export-grade shrimps, silver mackerel, skipjack, cobia and yellowfin tuna for the export markets. Its state-of-the-art processing facilities can process 20 tons of raw materials daily.