The world’s biggest pineapple business will hit $1 billion (P48.8 billion) sales in five years. “That’s close to triple our $350 million business now,” said Alan Salcedo, top man at Del Monte Philippines.
The company is expanding its plantation, adding 5,000 hectares more (2,000 in Claveria, Misamis Oriental and 3,000 in Talakag, Bukidnon) on top of the 23,000 hectares it is cultivating in Northern Mindanao. About 90 percent of the acreage is owned by Del Monte while the rest are sub contracted farms.
“We are the biggest integrated pineapple processor in the world, from plantation to cannery,” said Salcedo, Del Monte’s manufacturing director.
Del Monte processes 700,000 tons of pineapple fruits a year. In the Philippines, it is 40 percent bigger than its nearest competitor, Dole in Cotabato, which processes about 500,000 tons a year. Dole accounts for a bigger share in the fresh pineapple market.
In the next five years, Salcedo said, Del Monte will process 850,000 tons of pineapples a year.
The expansion is expected to supply all the requirements of its sister company, Del Monte in the United States. One way it is able to do this is via the deep water port on the backdoor of its sprawling 24-hectare cannery in Barangay Bugo.
“It’s possible to pick and ship on the same day,” said Arthur Quiblat, manager of Del Monte’s Mindanao Stakeholder Relations.
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