Pilmico invests $51 million for China, Vietnam feedmills

MANILA, Philippines — Pilmico International Pte. Ltd., the international food subsidiary of the Aboitiz Group, is spending $51 million to put up new feedmill facilities in China and Vietnam.

In a briefing, Pilmico Foods Corp. and Gold Coin Group president Tristan Aboitiz said the company is investing $27 million in a livestock feedmill facility in Long An, Vietnam and $24 million for a project in Yunnan, China.

The Long An facility has a capacity of 200,000 metric tons (MT) per year with a potential expansion of up to 300,000 MT.

Meanwhile, the Yunnan project can produce 150,000 MT, which can be expanded to 270,000 MT.

Pilmico is working on the final design and construction for both projects within the first half of the year while equipment installation is set in the second half of the year.

“We’re on track as far as the construction of both mills are concerned. We’re working towards signing contracts with the general contractors for the construction works at the moment,” Aboitiz said.

In terms of completion, the Long An project is expected be completed this year while the Yunnan facility is slated for completion next year.

“Our feedmill in Long An, Vietnam is expected to be completed in December this year. The one in Yunnan, China is expected to be completed by April of 2024,” Aboitiz said.

“We are continuing to invest in increasing our feed milling capacity across the region,” Aboitiz said, noting that these two projects are the two big ticket items currently being worked on as part of the group’s vision to become one of Asia’s leading integrated regional food and agribusiness companies.

Currently, the Gold Coin Group under Pilmico International is operating four livestock feedmills in China – one in Kunming in Yunnan Province, in Zhangzhou in Fujian Province, in Zhuhai and in Dongguan in Guangdong Province.

In Vietnam, it has three livestock feedmills in Hai Duong and Ha Nam in North Vietnam and in Dong Nai in South Vietnam.

The Gold Coin Group is pursuing fast-growing segments like aquafeeds and attractive geographies where it has presence in.

It was in 2014 when the Aboitiz Food Group branched out overseas through Pilmico International’s initial acquisition of a 70 percent equity interest in Pilmico Vietnam Company Limited (PVN), one of the largest aqua feeds producers in Vietnam.

PVN is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pilmico International after it raised its equity by 15 percent in 2017 and acquired the remaining 15 percent in 2019.

The investment in PVN allowed the food group to gain a foothold in the Vietnamese aqua feeds business, and at the same time, expand its reach to other aqua farm customers.

Meanwhile, it gained a wider foothold in ASEAN+China with its 75 percent acquisition of Gold Coin Management Holdings Pte. Ltd. (GCMH) and its remaining 25 percent equity interest in May 2019.

GCMH is the parent company of the Gold Coin Group and one of Asia’s largest multinational agri-business corporations, with subsidiaries operating in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan, Brunei, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and China.

To date, it now has more than 21 livestock and aqua feedmills across seven countries in the Asia-Pacific, with an installed milling capacity of three million metric tons (MT) per year.

Aboitiz Group is currently the fourth largest animal feed producer in Southeast Asia based on internal market data on the capacities of major players within the market.