Magnolia to open new ice cream plant in Laguna

Magnolia, the Philippines’ third-largest ice cream maker, will open a Laguna manufacturing facility next year, hoping the move will help make it number one. To be operational in the middle of next year, the facility in Sta. Rosa is expected to produce five million gallons of ice cream a year. Magnolia has allotted P350 million for the plant’s construction, Francisco Alejo III, San Miguel Purefoods president, said. The company, San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) dairy unit, currently corners 10 percent of the domestic ice cream market, placing behind Selecta and Nestle. Selecta is a joint venture between the Concepcion-led RFM Corp. and Unilever Philippines while Nestle is under Nestle Philippines Inc. In 2004, SMC relaunched the Magnolia ice cream brand in the country after being absent for more than five years. Magnolia has strong market share in margarine, cheese, and butter. It claims to have secured a 90 percent market for non-refrigerated margarines and 80 percent for refrigerated margarines. - GMANews.TV