Filipino techglomerate plans major Mekong Delta animal feed factory

Pilmico International, international food subsidiary of Philippines-based Aboitiz Group, is set to launch a new large-scale animal feed facility in Vietnam next year to expand its local market presence.

Announcing its third-quarter business results last Friday, Aboitiz Group said the new factory, located in the Mekong Delta province of Long An, will start operations in 2023.

The new feed mill should be online in the fourth quarter of next year, the Philippine Star reported Monday, quoting Pilmico Philippines president and CEO Tristan Aboitiz

Construction of the plant with a designed capacity of up to 30 tons per hour, is slated for completion next September.

In Vietnam, Pilmico International has three operating animal feed factories in Hai Duong and Ha Nam provinces in the north, and in Dong Nai in the south. Dong Nai and Long An provinces border Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest economic hub.

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

Aboitiz Group began its international expansion in 2014 through Pilmico International’s initial acquisition of a 70% stake in Pilmico Vietnam Co. Ltd., one of the largest aqua feed producers in Vietnam. Pilmico International bought another 15% stake in 2017, and the remaining 15% in 2019, making the firm a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pilmico International.

Aboitiz said the investment in Pilmico Vietnam has allowed the group to gain a foothold in the Vietnamese aqua feed business and expand its reach to other aquaculture customers.

In its Q3/2022 business result announcement, the group said it is on its way to becoming the Philippines’ first techglomerate.

“Our transition into the Philippines’ first techglomerate has much to show for, not just in the latest figures of our financial performance, but more importantly in the significant cultural transformation currently taking place among our team members and the ways they work together,” said Aboitiz Group president and CEO Sabin M. Aboitiz.

“We will continue to invest substantially and strategically in innovation, but it has always been our investment in people that has yielded the most returns,” he added.