October 23, 2025

 

Bounty Fresh aims to strengthen operations amid growing appetite for poultry 

 

 

Philippine poultry giant Bounty Fresh is focusing its efforts into strengthening its operations in core businesses as demand for local poultry is expected to grow in the mid-term.

 

The agribusiness firm's president and chief executive officer Kenneth Cheng said that the company does not intend to go public any time soon, and instead, focus on strengthening its domestic supply chain.

 

"Right now we're investing for the future. We are not only investing in new farms, we're also investing in new plants," he explained.

 

Cheng did not disclose the exact figure of Bounty Fresh's capital expenditures (capex) for the year, but he noted that the firm is allocating around half of its capex to expansion. This includes the construction of new facilities such as farms and processing plants.

 

Plans for expansion come as consultancy firm GIRA estimates that poultry consumption in the Philippines will grow 500,000 tonnes every five years. This translates to a poultry consumption of 4.5 million tonnes by 2050, double the current 2 million tonnes.

 

"Filipinos are going to eat chicken, whether the local farmers produce them or not. If we don't produce them, it will be coming in by importation. And so this is an opportunity for the local poultry farmer, but it's also a challenge," Cheng said.

 

In order to keep up with growing poultry demand, Bounty Fresh aims to sustainably strengthen its supply chain by boosting production, distribution and market reach to balance growth with demand.

 

Cheng noted that one of the obstacles to achieving this is the limited workforce in agriculture as the youth pursue other fields. He also stressed the need to invest in the agricultural sector's workforce to develop stockmanship and create a career pipeline that younger generations can build a career out of.

 

The Bounty Fresh chief also underscored the need to invest in biosecurity to help the sector keep pace with the demand.

 

Bounty Fresh is the Philippines' second largest poultry integrator. The company estimates that it contributes around a quarter of the country's total poultry production.

 

Cheng added that that the Inoza Group's recent acquisition of the Bistro Group will help integrate Bounty Fresh's chicken business into the restaurants.

 

Inoza Holdings of Bounty Fresh chairman Tennyson Chen acquired 22% of the Bistro Group from tycoon Andres Soriano III's A. Soriano Corporation for ₱1.9 billion (US$32.64 million) on October 2.

 

-      Rappler