Liwayway’s Oishi makes 1st foray into Bangladesh

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino-owned Liwayway Group of Companies, the company behind the iconic Oishi snack foods brand, will make its foray in Bangladesh, marking its 32nd factory around the globe.

In a recent interview, Liwayway chairman Carlos Chan said the company broke ground last month on its newest manufacturing facility, which will rise in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The construction of the facility may be completed in six months and commercial operations may commence this year or in 2020.

“The people of Bangladesh like snack foods,” Chan said when asked why his company chose to expand in the Southeast Asian country.

He also said it’s the first time that Liwayway is setting up a facility in Bangladesh.

But with the country’s huge population of roughly 170 million, Chan is optimistic of Liwayway’s good prospects in Bangladesh.

The snack foods to be offered may include those with curry flavor to appeal to the vast majority of the people and will also be Halal-certified.

The Bangladesh facility will be the multinational giant’s 32nd factory which includes 16 in China and five in the Philippines.

In China, Liwayway has more than 100 snack food and beverage products, at least 8,000 workers, more than 700 distributors.

Aside from Shanghai, the company has snack-making plants in several other locations around China such as in Harbin near Mongolia and Xinjiang near Kazakhstan.

In the Philippines, it has operations in Cavite, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Tarlac and Bohol.

Other factories in the region are in Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, India and Thailand.

Last year, The STAR reported that the company made its foray outside Asia with its very first facility in South Africa, a country with a huge population of 54 million people.

In its different factories abroad and in the Philippines, the company continues to enjoy stable growth.

Forbes Philippines, citing a Euromonitor report, said earlier that Oishi’s market share is equivalent to annual retail sales of about $1 billion throughout the region in 2013.

On the planned initial public offering in Hong Kong, Chan said nothing has been firmed up yet, but it has already tapped the Bank of China to handle the transaction if and when it proceeds.