NutriAsia sees 2014 record sales

Sales of homegrown condiments and sauces manufacturer NutriAsia Inc. are poised to breach the P10-billion mark this year on the back of a wider distribution network as well as robust demand for its products, executives said.

In a press conference on Friday, NutriAsia president and chief operating officer Angie Go Flaminiano disclosed that net sales are expected to reach P10.5 billion by yearend, up by almost a tenth from P9.6 billion in 2013 and exceeding the earlier 2014 sales target of P10 billion.

The company manufactures the following top-selling brands of condiments and sauces: Datu Puti, UFC, Jufran, Mafran, Papa, Golden Fiesta, Hapi Fiesta and Mang Tomas. Flaminiano said that these brands are either “market leaders or a strong No. 2” in their respective segments.

NutriAsia marketing director Jamie Garaci attributed the company’s strong sales to the continuous expansion of its distribution footprint all over the country. Its products are available in about 600,000 stores, equivalent to around 90 percent of retail outlets nationwide.

The demand for ketchup, cooking oil and liquid condiments such as vinegar and soy sauce is “stable” and growing at the same pace as the country’s population growth, Garaci said.

As for products such as Mang Tomas all-purpose sauce as well as other cooking sauces, whose household penetration rates remain small, sales are “rapidly expanding” of late alongside consumers’ “evolving tastes,” according to Garaci.

Flaminiano said that banana ketchup and vinegar are the biggest product categories, both comprising at least a fourth each of total sales. In the case of banana ketchup, NutriAsia’s brands corner a combined 90 percent of consumption in the country, she claimed.

Exports to mainly Filipino communities in the United States, Canada, the Middle East and neighboring Asian countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore contribute a tenth of company sales, Flaminiano said.

At present, NutriAsia is already among the top 20 food companies in the Philippines in terms of sales, but it further aims to move up and become part of the top 10, she said.

NutriAsia is “always on the lookout” for acquisitions, and would be acquiring another food company within the next 12 months, Flaminiano revealed.

“In the next five years, we are looking at expanding our footprint beyond condiments. We may produce packaged food, definitely non-alcoholic,” Flaminiano said.

Also, the company is currently in talks with a potential distributor in Indonesia of its banana ketchup lineup.

NutriAsia has four manufacturing facilities: one each in Marilao, Bulacan; Mandaue, Cebu; Toril, Davao City; and Cabuyao, Laguna.