November 26, 2009

Philippines eyes agribusiness investments from Middle East

The Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp. (PADCC) is set to meet with several groups from the Middle East that are exploring investment opportunities in the Philippines, particularly in the food sector.

These groups want to secure steady supply of certain types of food, it said.

PADCC president Marriz Agbon said a delegation from the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce will be in Manila this week for a briefing on potential investment sites in the Philippines.

The groups from Bahrain, composed of representatives from six private companies are interested in mariculture (saltwater farming of aquatic plants and animals).

Agbon said there was no indication yet on how much these companies were intending to invest in the Philippines.

It is Bahrain's second investment mission to the Philippines after the Nader & Ebrahim S/O Hassan (NEH) forged a PHP300 million agribusiness project with the AMA Group Holdings Corp. The Bahraini group plans to produce crops to be sold both locally and to Bahrain and other markets.

Earlier in May, Bahrain expressed interest to invest in shrimp production at the Carmen Integrated Aquaculture Park. The park currently grows tilapia but it can very well accommodate vannamei (white shrimp) production.

PADCC is also working on having similar meetings with business leaders from Qatar and Kuwait.