Baldana Looks to Establish Large-scale Integrated Dairy Facility in the PH

Qatar’s largest dairy and food producer Baladna is eyeing to establish an integrated dairy facility in the Philippines in an effort to boost the country’s dairy industry, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA). Around five potential locations have already been identified to be the site of the $500-million facility, which will be visited by Baladna over the following weeks.

With the integrated dairy facility, Baladna hopes to significantly ramp up local milk production by 120 million liters. At the moment, the country produces 26.71 million liters. “This will be bringing the Philippines’ total milk production to 146.71 million liters, thus contributing to addressing the local demand,” explained the DA. The establishment of the large-scale facility will be a partnership between Baladna, the DA, and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Baladna maintained that its main consideration for offering support to the Philippine government was to reinforce dairy production. Aside from the production of dairy products such as milk and cheese, the company is also involved in raising livestock. It supplies more than 95% of Qatar’s fresh dairy products.

To meet the country’s annual dairy requirements, the Philippines has been a major importer of dairy products, especially milk powder. Importers and processors have played a significant role in supplying the demand within the country, according to Agriculture Secretary William Dar.

“This will help jump-start catalytic investments in the Philippine dairy industry to contribute to food security, local milk production, and processing leading to agri-industrial development,” said Dar as he asserted support for the upcoming initiative. Baladna is a key partner as it houses over 24,000 Holstein cows on its 2.6 million square-meter facilities. Being the largest dairy and food producer in Qatar, it produces 450 tons of fresh milk daily with the support of more than 1,650 employees.

The DTI has also become a partner for the project as it aims to provide support using the grant of incentives under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) law. “The investments will be able to generate 2,000 new jobs during the initial phase of its first full year of operations, providing significant opportunities for domestic employment,” Dar concluded.

Source: Inquirer