China's richest man wants to put up P1-billion sugar plantation in RP

MANILA, Philippines - China’s richest man is interested in investing P1 billion in the Philippines for a 6,000-hectare sugar plantation possibly in Pampanga, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) reported over the weekend.

Trade Undersecretary Cristino L. Panlilio announced that while he was in Shanghai, he met with Zong Qing Hou, chairman and general manager of the Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co. Ltd.

“I spoke with Mr. Zong and he was just waiting for the new government to settle down. They are interested in mining and agriculture,” Panlilio reported.

For agriculture, Panlilio said that Wahaha would like to source their sugar from the Philippines. Wahaha is the leading beverage maker in China. It consumes as much as 300,000 tons of sugar annually.

This represents 13.6 percent of the Philippines’ 2.2 million metric ton yearly production of sugar.

Panlilio, who worked for the sugar milling and refinery firm Pasudeco Group, said they will help Wahaha hook up with a viable Filipino partner

“Wahaha is looking for a right partner,” Panlilio said.

“They want a joint venture with a Filipino group.” He noted that possible partners for the group are the Central Azukarrera de Tarlac and the Escaler’s Pasudeco Group.

Panlilio said he has volunteered all the abandoned sugar land in Pampanga and Tarlac.

Panlilio estimated that the Wahaha group may need as much as 6,000 hectares. Panlilio explained that there are a number of abandoned sugar lands in Pampanga because of the land reform program. He said it was not viable for sugar to be planted by people who have limited capital because it takes nine months.

Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co. Ltd, the leading beverage producer in China, has 150 subsidiaries in 29 provinces. They have 58 production bases with total assets of 30 billion yuan and 30,000 employees

The main products would include milk drinks, drinking water, juice drinks, tea drinks, health care food, canned food and others. Last year, Wahaha’s operation revenue reached 43.2 billion RMB which represented a 32 percent increase from 2008 figures.

Earlier, it was announced that Wahaha plans to put up a beverage manufacturing plant here with manufacturing giant Liwayway Co. (International), Ltd., maker of Oishi food products. Zong said that part of the investment plan was to export Hangzhou Wahaha products manufactured in the Philippines to nearby Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to take advantage of duty-free trade of goods within the bloc.