Korean food firm explores mango supply agreement with Nueva Ecija

San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija—A Korean firm known for its fruits-on-stick products and the provincial government are close to a joint-venture agreement for the processing and marketing of locally produced mangoes.

Gov. Aurelio Umali said details of the deal with Drupe International Inc. to develop a P30-million mango processing plant on a 1,000-square-meter property here were being “fine-tuned.”

The prospective partnership with Drupe will harness Nueva Ecija’s potential as a major mango producer, Umali said. The province is Luzon’s top mango grower, having vast tracts of mango plantations in this town and the municipalities of General Tinio, Jaen and Talavera, he said.

Nueva Ecija produces 62 million kilos of mango at peak harvest seasons, according to Board Member Romanito Juatco, who was tasked by the provincial board with overseeing the processing plant project. It ships 58 percent of the yield to Cebu.

The Korean firm operates a 2,000-square-meter plant in the Philexcel Business Park at the Clark Freeport.

Starting in January 2006 as Welsum Foodtech Inc., Drupe is credited as the first company to innovate and develop a new export market for frozen fruits-on-the-stick products. It employs the latest technology to freeze fruits, and “still maintain their freshness and sensory properties” for up to two years.

Cryogenic freezing is an advanced form of “blast freezing,” in which food products are exposed to sprays of liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide at minus 196 degrees Celsius. This allows the formation of small ice crystals inside the cell of the products, maintaining their freshness.

A slower freezing process can damage products because it produces large crystals that pierce and damage cell walls.

“With this partnership with Drupe, we expect mango production to further increase and pump-prime the agricultural economy of Nueva Ecija as the undisputed food basket in the country,” Umali said.

Eui Kwon Chung of Drupe said the firm’s frozen food products offered a cheaper alternative to the costly importation of ripe fruits, ensured off-season availability and in-season quality, and offered a better alternative to traditional food preservation methods.

Drupe processes mangoes, pineapple, banana cavendish, strawberry, papaya, melon cantaloupe, avocado, custard apple (atis), sapodilla (chico) into yogurt. It also exports vegetables such as okra, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and radish to developed to Japan, China, France, North America and other nontropical countries.

Juatco said that under the terms of reference for the proposed joint venture between Drupe and the provincial government, a new corporation, named Newco, would be created with an initial capitalization of P10 million.

Newco will embark on the processing and marketing of mango, papaya, pineapple and banana although more products will be added based on market demand, he said.

To maximize profits, Newco will service clients outside Nueva Ecija, he said.