TAGOLOAN, Misamis Oriental —The Phividec Industrial Authority on Friday has inked a 20-year lease agreement with a Thai-owned food conglomerate who would be building a P1.2 billion food processing plant for frozen coconut meat and milk in the 3,000-hectare economic zone in Misamis Oriental.
Phividec Administrator Joseph Donato Bernedo said the P1.2 billion plant of the conglomerate Thai World Group would bring new life to 153,000 coconut landowner, farmers and tenants in Northern Mindanao.
“This investments is a vote of confidence for northern Mindanao,” Bernedo said during a press conference after the signing Friday.
Borcha Punyatarkorn, director of the Thai World Group said their affiliate Philco Food Processing Corporation leased four hectares of land in the Phividec Industrial Estate to build their facility that would be able to produce 78,000 tons of high quality coconut milk.
Punyatarkorn said the manufactory plant would employ 1,500 employees and need 500,000 coconuts a day to produce the milk and frozen meat that would be exported to the US, Europe and Asia.
“We will have coconut buying stations in Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte, Pagadian and Dipolog. We like it here because the Philippines is the third biggest producers of coconuts in the world,” Punyatarkorn said.
Punyatarkorn also said they also like that Phividec have a good seaport where their products can be loaded to waiting cargo hips.
Phividec officials said the Thai World Group will invest P770 million for their manufacturing equipment, P200 million for the buildings and P167 million for the working capital.
