Ginebra mulls exports to US, India

MANILA, Philippines - Ginebra San Miguel Inc. (GSMI), the hard liquor unit of diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp., is evaluating the feasibility of export- ing to the United States and India, according to a filing with securities regulators.

GSMI, which offers a range of liquor products including gin, brandy, Chinese wine, rum, vodka, tequila and whisky, is looking for new markets to further widen its reach.

The major countries to which GSMI is exporting are Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China and the Middle East.

GSMI owns one distillery, three liquor bottling plants and one cas- sava starch milk plant.

It also owns one bottling and dis- tillery plant in Thailand via a joint venture with the Thai Life Group of Companies. To augment the bottling capacity of these facilities, GSMI entered into toll manufacturing agreements with third parties to produce liquor products located in San Fernando, Pampanga, Calamba, Laguna and Lucena.

GSMI sells market leading brands Ginebra San Miguel, GSM Blue Gin and Gran Matador Brandy.

The company has embarked on a program to install more distributors particularly in the southern part of the archipelago, where market pen- etration is low and only a few dealers covering the area. Aside from liquor products, GSMI sells non-carbonated ready-to-drink tea and fruit juices under the Magnolia brand. It recently introduced energy drinks to capital- ize on the strong demand for this fastest growing segment in the non- alcoholic beverage market.

Amid the intense competition and shifts in consumer preference, GSMI incurred a net loss of P982.16 million last year, a reversal of the P913.85 mil- lion profit reported in 2010.

While its flagship Ginebra San Miguel brand held its ground and continued to be a strong contribu- tor to the business, Gran Matador and GSM Blue trailed behind ri- val brands, which managed to be first to market lighter proof liquor products.

Ginebra, however, foresees a re- covery this year with the launch of new products and intense market- ing efforts.