June 22, 2011
Alson's Aquaculture Corporation sees more than US$25 million sales in 2011
Tomas Alcantara, chairman of the Alsons Consolidated Resources Corporation, disclosed that the expansion in shipments to the European Union (EU) could also boost sales.
Alcantara disclosed that the company has already made trial shipments to Italy and England. Aside from markets from the EU, Alsons Aquaculture shipped out bangus to Israel.
Steady shipments to the US and Canada would also boost sales this year, he said.
The bangus exporter ships out five container vans to the US and two to Canada every month.
Alcala said that 80 percent of the company's sales comes from exports while 20 percent is taken up by the domestic market.
Currently, the company exports only frozen bangus marketed under the brand name Sarangani Bay. Aside from bangus, Alsons Aquaculture also sells sea bass and pampano in the domestic market.
Meanwhile, the Sarangani provincial government and the Alcantara Group through its affiliate, Finfish Hatcheries Inc., donated five million bangus fry to replenish the stocks depleted due to the recent fish kills in Taal Lake and Pangasinan.
The five million bangus fry is valued at PHP2 million (US$46,125). When hatched, the donated fry would yield 1,000 tonnes or 1 million kilograms of bangus.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said the department is in the process of identifying the beneficiaries of the donated fry.
So far, fish cage owners in Taal Lake and Pangasinan have suffered combined losses of about PHP150 million (US$3.45 million).
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has started to clear the 25,000-hectare Taal Lake of illegal fish pens and sent water pumps to aerate the lake to raise the volume of dissolved oxygen in the water.
