Chemphil suspends agribusiness line

The Chemphil group, the biggest chemical manufacturer in the country, has started to chop off its agribusiness operations to prevent further losses in this field, one of the first casualties in the group-wide restructuring strategy.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Chemphil vice president for legal service Rolando Navarro said the company’s board executive committee (ExCom) approved the indefinite suspension of its agribusiness operation in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija.

The holding group, through publicly-listed Chemical Industries of the Philippines (CIP), owns and operates Esgar Farms, a corporate farm planted mainly with mangoes.

Navarro said with the suspension of its direct involvement in the mango orchard, CIP is now looking for prospective lessees for the fruit-bearing mango trees.

He added the ExCom has previously approved the sale of a small parcel of land in the farm, about 6,370 square meters, to the Cuyapo Rural Bank for nearly P5.1 million.

Navarro said the decision to dispose of its agribusiness venture was also affected by the company’s long-standing petition before the Department of Agrarian Reform seeking for the exemption of the farm from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.

"Management is not optimistic that the whole area would be exempted from the coverage of the CARL," he said.

The company also has a pending claim for compensation with the DAR covering over seven hectares of agricultural land in the same area under land reform.

As the country’s biggest source of chemical products, the Chemphil group has, over the years, also expanded into general insurance, chemical bulk storage, personal care products, agribusiness and real estate.

However, the onset of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 did not spare the group’s businesses from the general slack in demand, causing its major units to slump in the red – forcing the holding company to undertake a massive restructuring plan that would involve the saleof certain assets and ther spin-off of non core units. – Conrado Diaz Jr.