The Alcantara Group expects its aquaculture business to post more than P1 billion in sales this year.
“That’s about 17 percent higher from last year,” Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. president and chairman Tomas I. Alcantara told reporters.
The main growth drivers are exports to the United States and Canada, Alcantara said. Exports account for about 80 percent of revenue.
At present, domestic demand is not very strong and it further declined due to safety concerns related to the recent fishkills in Taal Lake and two Pangasinan towns.
The Alcantara Group is donating 5 million bangus (milkfish) fry from Finfish Hatcheries Inc. in Malapatan, Sarangani, to the areas affected by the fishkill to replenish their fish stocks.
The donation was estimated to cost P2 million (ex-Sarangani price). Alcantara said that if freight costs were included, the amount would be a little higher.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and newly appointed Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director Asis Perez received the donation on behalf of the affected fish-pen and fish-cage owners in Taal and Pangasinan.
Sarangani Governor Miguel Dominguez, whom the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) credited with facilitating the donation, witnessed the turnover together with Alex I. Alcantara, executive vice president and head of the agribusiness unit of the Alcantara Group.
Dominguez said the fry would be transported to beneficiary areas when these are open for reseeding. At the moment, BFAR is discouraging restocking of fish pens and fish cages to improve the water quality in affected areas.
Finfish Hatcheries, along with Alsons Aquaculture Corp., both based in Sarangani, form part of the aquaculture business unit of the Alcantara Group.