Health drink importer earmarks P100M for ASEAN positioning

CEBU, Philippines - Cebuano owned health drink importer, Organique Inc., is allocating at least P100 million to set up two manufacturing plants in the Philippines and Vietnam, and a regional headquarters in Singapore to strengthen its positioning in the ASEAN market.

The company owned by couple entrepreneur Elton and Catherine Salimbangon is now preparing to boost its market share in the health drink category market, and investing on manufacturing plants in the home-ground is seen to accelerate the company's plans to expand its Acai berry based product lines, at the same time cutting down its importation cost.

In an interview with company vice president Catherine Salimbangon, she said the market's increasing preference to consume and use health-friendly products paved the way for Organique's success in the health drink category, registering over 200 percent growth in the last six years.

 The company has partnered with a US-based tolling company to process the Amazon-grown Acai Berries into an FDA ( Food and Drugs Administration) approved health drink. It is also the first Filipino-owned company to have gotten the certification as a certified organic health drink from the United States Department of Agriculture.

 "The market, especially in ASEAN is very big. We are encouraged to set up manufacturing plants here in the Philippines, and Vietnam to help expand our production volume, and to cut importation cost," said Salimbangon.

  The couple started the distribution of organic Acai Berry health drink in 2009 in Cebu. Now, the company has set up headquarter office in Manila, as its market now include the entire ASEAN, as well as other parts of the world, like Middle East, United States, Japan, among others.

To formalize its ASEAN positioning, Organique is going to open its regional headquarter office Singapore next year.

Recently, the company was recognized as the 2015 Medium Scale Entrepreneur, Agora Award given by the Philippine Marketing Association of the Philippines (PMAP).

The company joins other Filipino successful businesses, like Mega Sardines, ABS-CBN, Uniliver Philippines, as this year's Agora Award's recipients.

At present, the company is working with a third party ASEAN market consultant to pursue its ASEAN expansion. Part of the preparation is doing market intelligence in each country, scouting for distribution partnership.

In its Vietnam manufacturing plant plan, Salimbangon said Organique is bent of locating at an economic zone in the country, together with other Filipino companies which have set up their manufacturing plants there, like URC, Splash, Liwayway, Rebesco, among others.

In the Philippines, Acai Berry health drink products are available in over 1,000 retail outlets, like PureGold, Mercury Drug, Landmark, Savemore supermarkets and selected Rustan’s Supermarket outlets across the Philippines.

Part of the company's plan for its Philippine plant, is to manufacture Acai berry-based beauty products and health supplement capsules, as well as ready-to-drink juice in tetra pack.

Organique Inc., is one of the few Cebuano companies which respond to experts' call to capitalize the dynamic 650 million market-based in the integrated ASEAN region. (FREEMAN)