Beer maker Asia Brewery looks at producing yogurt and soymilk

Asia Brewery Inc., the beverage unit of the LT Group Inc., intends to produce dairy products yogurt and soymilk once the level of imports reaches critical volume, and in the process diversifying from its core business of beer manufacutring, its top official said Wednesday.

 

"On the beverage side, we're importing soymilk. We also have a partnership with Grupo Leche Pascual of Spain for pasteurized yogurt," LT Group Inc. president Michael Tan told reporters after the company's stockholders' meeting in Taguig City.

 

"We're importing [yogurt and soymilk] right now,” noting that the company is looking at a 50 to 60 percent capacity utilization before putting up a plant.

 

Asked how much the company is allotting to put up a manufacturing plant, Tan said "it's still based on capacity and how aggressive we would want to go overseas."

 

The dairy factory will likely be in the 320-hectare Cabuyao, Laguna complex which houses Asia Brewery's beer, glass, plastic crate, carton, waste water treatment plants and warehousing and transportation facilities.

 

"It can be used as an export base in the ASEAN region, especially for the yogurt," Tan said, adding that they "have no plans to put up plants in other countries."

 

In December 2012, Asia Brewery Inc. and Grupo Leche Pascual formed the joint venture AB Pascual Foods to make the Philippines its base of expansion for the rest of Southeast Asia.

 

In July 2011, the two companies signed a memorandum of agreement in Madrid to market Leche Pascual's yogurt products in the Philippines.

 

Tan said Grupo Leche Pascual is one of the biggest dairy companies in Spain.

 

"They have identified the Philippines as one of the biggest places where they would want to have a base it Southeast Asia... They partnered with us and together we'll look at the ASEAN market," he added.

 

In its 2012 annual report, LT Group said Asia Brewery partnered with beverage player Green  Spot Co. Ltd. of Thailand for marketing ready-to-drink soya, cornering 68 percent of the entire category in less than two years.

 

In the first quarter, LT Group, the investment holding firm of beer and tobacco tycoon Lucio Tan, posted a 53 percent-jump in net income to P5.8 billion while revenues improved by P2.2 billion to P17.7 billion. 

 

Asia Brewery, however, registered 4.9 percent drop in earnings to P229 million on the back of the new excise tax law implemented this year. — VS, GMA News