AgriNurture expanding retail, logistics network

Listed AgriNurture Inc. (ANI) is expanding its retail and logistics network to stabilize costs, maintain food quality and ensure traceability.

“Our capital expenditure for expanding our network of wet markets and logistics hubs is about P1 billion,” ANI chairman and CEO Antonio L. Tiu told the Inquirer.

“The good thing about expanding our wet market channels is that it helps Filipino contract growers. When we sell more local produce, farmers earn more and can produce more because they know someone will buy their harvest,” Tiu said.

About 70 percent of Filipino consumers still go to wet markets, according to market studies.

ANI has 20 outlets all over Metro Manila, including those in major markets such as Balintawak, Divisoria, Mega Q-mart, Farmers Market and trading centers for fresh produce.

“We are expanding in Luzon and then Mindanao. Then we will expand in the Visayas region,” Tiu said. He said the company had existing logistics hubs in Luzon and Mindanao that can be easily connected with new hubs.

To ensure product freshness and traceability, ANI is investing in additional logistics hubs.

For Luzon, ANI has a logistics center in Pulilan, Bulacan. “One logistics hub will rise in FTI or somewhere south next year,” Tiu said.

For Mindanao, ANI has one hub in Davao and one in Cagayan de Oro.

The company last year posted a 136-percent increase in income to P216 million from P93.5 million in 2010. ANI’s consolidated revenue grew by almost 41 percent to P2.25 billion in 2011 from P1.6 billion in 2010.