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LA Frutera Inc., the Philippines’ largest banana
exporter, expects overseas sales of its bananas to double by
end-2008, the company’s chairman said Tuesday night.
Senen C. Bacani, La Frutera
chairman and president, said the company expects to double its
banana production in two years time.
La Frutera is producing 5 million
boxes of bananas from Maguindanao province in Mindanao worth $10
million. “This will grow to $20 million in two years,” Bacani
told reporters on the sidelines of an entrepreneur awards event.
The former Agriculture secretary
said the company expects to ship more to Korea, China, the Middle
East and Japan in the coming years. “Our biggest market is
Japan,” he added.
Production of banana is mainly
concentrated in Mindanao where the biggest banana producing
provinces are located, including Davao del Norte, Lanao del Norte,
Davao del Sur, Maguindanao, Davao City and Misamis Oriental. Outside
of Mindanao, the biggest producing provinces are Cagayan, Isabela,
Agusan del Sur and Iloilo.
La Frutera has 45,000 hectares
under it and is one of the top 10 banana farms in the country in
terms of production per hectare, cost per box and quality of
products in the market.
In 1996, Ultrex and Chiquita
Unifruti established La Frutera Inc., a 1,000-hectare Cavendish
plantation in Maguindanao.
La Frutera was the first
large-scale banana plantation in the Autonomous Region of Muslim
Mindanao.
Ultrex and Chiquita Unifrutti buy
La Frutera’s bananas and market them under the Chiquita and
Unifrutti brands abroad.
The company employs 1,745 people,
90 percent of whom are Muslim and 10-percent Christians.
Among its workforce are a few
hundred former rebels of the Moro National Liberal Front and the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Because of his business
experience in Mindanao, Bacani was named the Entrepreneur of the
Year Philippines 2006 and Master Entrepreneur.
He will be the country’s
representative to the World Entrepreneur of the Year award in Monte
Carlo, Monaco.
--Darwin G Amojelar
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