Cargill and JFC deal creates 1,000 jobs

The poultry processing facility will be jointly built and run by the two businesses: Cargill and JFC will have a 70% and 30% stake respectively, which will trade under the name Cargill Joy Poultry Meats Production.

Located in Santo Tomas, Batangas – 70km south of the Philippines capital, Manila – the poultry processing facility will provide local farmers with unprecedented business, boosting jobs and commerce in the region. Part of the Cargill-JFC joint venture smallprint is that local farmers will be contracted to grow and supply chickens for the factory.

JFC will invest $5.9m (Ps244.9m) to secure a 30% stake in Joy Poultry Meats Production.

‘World-class’​

“Cargill is making additional investments in the Philippines to participate in the robust growth of its consumer sector,​” said Cargill Joy Poultry Meats Production’s managing director Paul Fullbright.

“Cargill can contribute in further enhancing the quality of products of JFC brands for its customers at very competitive costs and raise the assurance of its chicken supply.”

Fullbright said Cargill’s long history in the global poultry industry, coupled with its “world-class facility​”, would add value to the JFC brand by “improving​” hygiene, food safety and product quality.

The JFC group claims to be one of the largest buyers and processors of chicken in the Philippines. Its brands include Burger King, Jollibee, Mang Inasal, Chowking and Greenwich – a 2,506-strong portfolio of restaurants that makes JFC the largest food service network in the Philippines.

JFC’s CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said the partnership with Cargill would help the poultry business produce a range of marinated and dressed chicken items to serve growing demand. It was a partnership that would “meaningfully benefit” ​its operations home and aboard, while simultaneously reinforcing JFC's “strong relationship​” with key poultry suppliers, Tanmantiong said.