Spanish dairy group investing $30M in Phl

MANILA, Philippines -Spanish yogurt maker Leche Pascual is seriously studying the construction of a $30-million manufacturing facility in one of the country’s special economic zones in the first quarter of 2014, Trade Undersecretary for investment promotion Cristino Panlilio said yesterday.

Panlilio met yesterday with the executives of the dairy firm, including its president Tomas Pascual Gomez-Cuetara and director Michael de Jose Belzunce.

For now, Leche Pascual has partnered with Asia Brewery for the distribution this year of non-refrigerated canned yogurt in supermarkets. Panlilio said the products would be competitively-priced between P20 to P25.

The planned manufacturing facility is expected to employ 200 workers. Yogurt production would be carried out in the facility but the cream base to be used in the production would be imported from Australia and New Zealand because the Philippine dairy industry still cannot supply the demand.

Panlilio said, however, that the firm is free to explore milk sources in the country.

He said the Philippines would be the first in the ASEAN region where Leche Pascual would build a manufacturing facility. The company, he said, is using the Philippines as a platform for expansion in countries grouped under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). These include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia. Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

He said the dairy company would test the Philippine market for two years.

“Leche Pascual is one of the pioneers in canned yogurt. Now you can buy yogurt in sari sari stores,” he said. “With the health benefits of yogurt, it should not be a luxury (good), but an easy accessible food.”

Several firms have been expanding their operations in the Philippines as a means of expanding their operations in the ASEAN region. Panlilio said this is because the Philippines is now becoming an attractive destination for foreign investment.