By Arjay L. Balinbin, Senior Reporter

METRO PACIFIC Investment Corp. (MPIC) expects to generate P500 million in revenue from its dairy business by 2025, according to the president of its agriculture unit Metro Pacific Agro Ventures (MPAV).

“When [MPIC] invested in Carmen’s Best, we wanted it to become a half-a-billion business by 2027, and now we are cutting that shorter,” MPAV President Jovy I. Hernandez told BusinessWorld in a recent interview.

“By 2025, we will reach that, and that’s not yet with LR,” he added, referring to MPAV’s partnership with Israel’s LR Group to expand MPIC’s existing dairy business.

“If we add on the other subsectors, especially the LR, we are seeing a much bigger revenue that we’ll be contributing to the group,” Mr. Hernandez said.

MPAV and LR Group are investing P2 billion in the partnership, which aims to build a dairy facility in Bay, Laguna. They aim to produce at least six million liters of milk every year. The operation is expected to begin in late 2025 or early 2026.

The construction of the facility will start this year.

MPIC previously entered into a partnership with Carmen’s Best Group, which consists of Carmen’s Best Dairy Products, Inc., Carmen’s Best International Dairy Co., Inc., Real Fresh Dairy Farms, Inc., and The Laguna Creamery, Inc.

“I think the long-term aspiration is for MPAV, at a certain point in time, to become as big as the others. Maybe not as big as PLDT, but based on what we see today, the opportunities in terms of investing in agri subsectors, we think that it’s pretty sizable, and there is a chance that it will become a good revenue driver for the group,” Mr. Hernandez said.

He said the MPIC is also eyeing getting into the coconut production business.

“We want to invest in subsectors where we think the Philippines should be number one, and that is coconut. We used to be number one in coconut,” Mr. Hernandez said.

MPAV was set up by MPIC to be the arm that will drive all agricultural endeavors and the ambition to develop the food sufficiency of the Philippines’ agricultural sector, starting with the growth of Philippine dairy as an industry, according to the company.

MPAV noted that the Philippines imports a little over 2.8 million metric tons or 99% of its milk and milk by-products due to poor feed and management practices, high production costs, and the lack of adequate dairy infrastructure.

“MPAV’s mission to expand dairy farming allows over 10,000 Filipino farmers to have a better livelihood. Beyond that, the conglomerate can also help the Philippines become a more self-sufficient dairy-producing nation,” the company said.

MPIC is one of three key Philippine units of First Pacific, the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.

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