The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Thai food and agri-industrial giant Charoen Pokphand Foods PLC (CPF) expressed plans to establish a food processing facility and distribution network in the Philippines within the next three years, DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel in a statement on Sunday said this was disclosed by CPF officials during a visit of CPF’s Nong Chok factory as part of the activities of a delegation of DA officials to Thailand from the last week of February to March 2.
CPF is a company under Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group Co. Ltd..
On Feb. 11, 2025, Malaya Business Insight reported the Charoen group signed a partnership with the Maharlika Investment Corp. to establish a private equity fund and raise up to $1 billion to accelerate investments in agriculture and food production, digital innovation and sustainable energy in the Philippines.
The DA statement did not provide details of CPF’s plans in the Philippines but the company’s website showed it is engaged in the processing of meat products including fillets, ready meals, hams, and sausages for export.
Tiu Laurel said the delegation also met with Narumon Pinyosinwat, Thailand’s Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, to express the Philippines’ openness to sourcing more rice, vegetables, poultry and pork.
He said Thailand is interested to export longan and poultry meat to the Philippines, while the DA opened the possibility of exporting Hass avocados and processed meats to Thailand.
“We hope this recent visit will lead to greater trade between Manila and Bangkok as well as more Thai investments in the Philippine agricultural sector… Thailand, a major rice exporter, offers many lessons in agricultural efficiency and food product exports to Europe,” Tiu Laurel said.
The DA said the delegation also observed sustainable farming practices, particularly the bio-circular-green economy model in a cassava collaborative farm, as well as an asparagus farm utilizing efficient irrigation systems, contract farming practices and effective implementation of farming and product standards that resulted in increased yields and higher income.
The DA said its team also discussed with officials of Asian Institute of Technology on how to replicate the use of advanced climate control systems to optimize crop yield using climate-resilient structures, crop varietal development and sustainable agricultural and fisheries research.
The team also visited Thailand’s major food and agricultural wholesale and retail markets to gather ideas that may be incorporated to improve the operations of food terminals in the Philippines, it added
