Universal Robina Corp (URC) is planning to put up a new USD 7 million animal feed milling plant in Mindanao, the Philippines to cater to growing demand. This will mark URC Agro-Industrial Group (AIG’s) first major investment in Mindanao.
According to URC-AIG Managing Director Vincent Henry, “We’re expanding slowly every year, starting from Luzon and then went north in Bulacan and the Visayas. For the next 2 years, we’re looking at Mindanao.”
With booming global agricultural market, Mindanao has become an attractive venue, and the company is eyeing at opening a hog feed line.
AIG is a division under the larger agro-industrial and commodities group of URC, which also includes the sugar and renewables group as well as the flour and pasta division. AIG alone operates 3 divisions namely farms, animal nutrition and health as well as food, drugs and disinfectants.
Its Uno+ Hog feeds have proven to be the most efficient hog feed in the country for hog raisers nationwide, while TopBreed has established itself as one of the market leader in the Philippines under the dog food brand segment.
URC’s animal nutrition and health segment focuses on animal nutrition through its core animal feeds business, complemented by the expansion of its pet food portfolio and its drugs and disinfectants business. The segment contributed approximately 7.4% of URC’s revenue.
Its existing feed mill plants are located in Bulacan, Pasig as well as Consolacion and Mandaue City in Cebu.
In a related development, URC has also bolstered its production capacity for quality flour by more than 50% with the opening of a new mill in Quezon province. Its Pesos 5.4 billion facility in Sariaya raised URC Flour’s capacity to about 3,500 from 2,180 metric tons per day.
URC is one of the country’s largest food and beverage companies, producing iconic brands like Great Taste, Cream-O cookies, Piattos and Maxx candy.