Unilever Philippines will start exporting Halal-certified products to Indonesia from its Cavite facility, as the British consumer conglomerate expands its regional footprint to serve the growing demand from Muslim communities.
Benjie Yap, the newly-appointed chairman of Unilever Philippines, said Unilever Cavite Foods Factory was certified a Halal processing facility.
“We make sure we cater to different consumer choices. There’s a big market for Halal products globally. We want to start in Indonesia which is a basically a Muslim country and expand to Southeast Asia,” he said in news a briefing at the company’s new headquarters in Bonifacio Global City.
The Halal plant is a part of the P1.7-billion food processing facility in General Trias, Cavite where Knorr products and dressings are manufactured.
The plant is being viewed as the new Halal hub for Southeast Asia and Australia.
Yap said the Philippines had yet to realize the potential of the Halal market, which could be a driver for sustained socio-economic growth.
The facility uses renewable energy resources for its power requirement.
Unilever also announced several initiatives such as the sourcing of coco sugar bloc from small stakeholders, piloting the project from General Santos City this year with expansion plan to cover sourcing from Quezon and Zamboanga provinces.
The project, in cooperation with Grow Asia, an NGO linking businesses to small farmers, has the potential to benefit 2,000 farmers, at the onset.
The coco sugar initiative was borne out of the internal requirement of sister company Unilever Indonesia for the product.
New product offering are also in the pipeline such as personal care products and a new premium ice cream brand.
Another big-ticket project is the ongoing construction of the mega distribution center in Cabuyao, Laguna, the company’s largest distribution center in the country.
“Unilever Philippines is committed to the Filipino people. Not only are we optimistic about prospects for growth, but we are constantly on the lookout for emerging opportunities to better serve the market,” Yap said.
Unilever is celebrating its 90th year of presence in the Philippine consumer market. It has the dominant share in most of the categories it offers”•homecare, personal care, food and refreshments.