Pilmico to hold expo for local swine raisers

LOCAL swine raisers are encouraged to join the Pista sa Sugbu expo starting tomorrow and Sunday at the SM City Cebu Trade Hall.

The expo organized by the Aboitiz Equity Ventures’ food business group Pilmico Foods Corp. aims to help local swine raisers compete amid reports that they were affected by  heavy smuggling of imported meat.

“They (swine farmers) were a little bit shy after that and while the prices of pork meat are going up  again, we’d like them to take advantage of this opportunity. The expo is our way to reach out to them and other potential partners and help the local industry grow and compete,” said Sabin Aboitiz, Pilmico Foods Corp. president and chief executive officer during last Monday’s press conference.

Aboitiz said the expo would host seminars on  how to make the business more profitable.

Pilmico officials said they decided to hold the expo this year to strengthen partner  relationships  and provide a venue for potential partners to explore opportunities in the industry.

Pilmico Foods Corp. has three main businesses   swine production, poultry line and bakery products.

“We will have lectures and forums on  different relevant topics covering swine, poultry and bakery operations including areas on marketing, inventory and capitalization,” said Hendel Cabral, Pilmico vice president for sales.

Swine production in Central Visayas increased by three percent in 2011 with 152,832 kilos (live weight) from 2010  levels based on data from the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

The momentum was maintained in the first half of this year which registered a two percent increase or 77,156 kilos (liveweight) as of May this year.

Poultry production also grew 5.7 percent in 2011 with 125,025 kilos of chicken, duck, chicken and duck egg produced last year.

As of first semester this year, poultry production registered an increase of 4.8 percent or 65,519 kilograms of poultry products as of May this year.

With this renewed momentum in the market, Aboitiz said Pilmico would want to be a catalyst  for more growth through education campaigns.

“We expect a total of 4,000 visitors during the two-day expo. Hopefully, with a successful first expo, we can do this every year so that we can touch base with our partners regularly and let them know more ways to increase profitability with us as their partner,” said Norie Bermudez, Pilmico assistant vice president for VisMin sales./Reporter Aileen Garcia-Yap