The Department of Agriculture (DA) through the National Dairy Authority (NDA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) have partnered with Baladna Qatar Public Shareholding Company (BQPSC) to build a USD 500 million integrated dairy facility in the Philippines. The investment will avail grants under the new Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) law.
The tripartite agreement will reportedly bring in 2,000 new jobs during its first phase of operations. The DA and DTI will also assist Baladna in identifying five possible locations for the large-scale facility and will be welcoming Baladna officials in the next few weeks for the site visit. They will also work together and discuss measures implementing proper labeling of fresh milk. Ultimately, the project will increase local milk production from 120 million liters to 146.71 million liters.
The Philippines dairy requirement is being supplied mainly by importers and processors and remains a big importer of dairy products, particularly milk, although local milk production has been gradually increasing in recent years. To date, there is a local demand of 2.93 billion liters of milk per year, the bulk of which is imported. Although BQPSC is a Qatari conglomerate with interests in petrochemicals, fertilizers, and steel, the company is also engaged in livestock farming and production of milk, yogurt, cheese, labneh, cream, and dessert juices, supplying more than 95% of Qatar’s fresh dairy products.
(Sources: DairyReporter.com, Inquirer)
