Purefoods Launches Attack On Tuna Market With Canned Chickenff

In order to provide consumers with a convenient, no-fuss and healthy chicken-based food, Purefoods-Hormel has decided to meet the consumer's needs by launching canned chicken.

With these new products, Purefoods expressed optimism it could penetrate at least five percent of the tuna market.

”We are hoping to penetrate the tuna market and get an initial of at least five percent,” Reginald Baylosis, marketing assistant vice president of Purefoods-Hormel Co. said during the launching of the Purefoods chicken chunks, Purefoods Embutido and the Purefoods Supremo vinegar at the Grand Regal Hotel on Thursday.

He said an initial order of 40 cases of Purefoods Chicken chunks has been placed for exporting to Bahrain.

This supply is intended for the Filipino community in Bahrain.

”Tuna has an edge because they can offer other variants of their products like the tuna flakes at a much lower price, eventually we will come up with new products to utilize every bit of our exports in chicken meat,” he added.

Baylosis also said there is still a need to gear up the value-added production of chicken in the country.

”Hopefully, by 2005 we will be tapping our first stage target which is the expansion of our value-added chicken-based production,” Baylosis said, adding that basically, 50 percent of the Filipino consumers still go to the wet market to buy chicken meat while only 20 percent get their supply from the supermarkets.

”The Philippines has a much lower per capita chicken consumption of only about 7 kilograms per year, very much lower to the per capita consumption of the United States, which is more than 60 percent, so there is still a big space for expansion,” Baylosis said.

Interesting detail si that Purefoods used to be involved in the tuna canning business until recently by its share of Indonesia based tuna canner PT Sinar PureFoods. This canning operation has recently been sold off to a investment group formed by Philippine tuna fisherman and canners. PureFoods actually was one of the first Philippine companies involved in tuna canning decades ago.