Philippines and Qatari dairy firm Baladna to partner on $500m integrated dairy facility

Baladna, Qatar’s largest locally-owned dairy producer, is teaming up with the government of the Philippines to establish a $500 million integrated dairy facility.

The Philippines is a major importer of dairy products, although the country’s local milk production is said to have increased by 9.5% between 2019 and 2020. 

The project aims to foster domestic dairy production and will see Baladna work with the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture (DA) and the country’s Department of Trade and Industry.

“The DA, through the National Dairy Authority, fully support and welcome this new initiative as this will help jumpstart catalytic investments in the Philippine dairy industry to contribute to food security, local milk production and processing leading to agri-industrial development,” said DA Secretary, William Dar.

Baladna produces milk, yogurt, cheese, labneh, cream, desserts, juices and animal fertilisers. According to DA, it is expected that the project will increase local milk production by 120 million litres from the Philippines’ current milk production of 26.7 million litres. 

Dar stated: “The investments will be able to generate 2,000 new jobs during the initial phase of its first full year of operations, providing significant opportunities for domestic employment”. 

He continued: “DA has already identified five possible locations for the Baladna project and welcomes the Baladna team in the next few weeks for the site visit in the Philippines. DA will continuously provide the needed support to fast track the implementation of this project in coordination with DTI and other partner agencies.”