Cold chain database to be launched in 2023

A cold chain database is scheduled to be launched next year by various government agencies, led by the Board of Investments, and the private sector.

The BOI, in a statement, said the Cold Chain Database Project will be unveiled by February 2023, adding that this will map out existing providers in the country to bridge current gaps in the sector. It will also provide data-driven basis for policy formulation and investment promotion.

The BOI said the database would also include estimates and forecasts on the supply and demand for cold chain services. It can also generate data on present and future cold chain service gaps, focusing on agriculture and fishery products which need to pass through cold chain facilities.

Earlier, InsightsSCS Corp, the developer of the DeliverE platform, presented to an inter-agency group a cold chain database which was the final output of the project “Development of a Cold Chain Integrated Supply Chain Solution for Evidence-based Policy Making and Investment Programming.”

This project was initiated through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) entered into by the BOI, InsightSCS Corp, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) Environmental Management Bureau (EMB). This was under the Global Partnership for Improving the Food Cold Chain in the Philippines funded by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

BOI Governor Marjorie Ramos-Samaniego lauded InsightSCS Corp. for taking the lead in the data collection and web platform development. She also urged industry stakeholders to continue supporting the project.

For his part, InsightSCS Corp. CEO Carlo Curay expressed his appreciation for the support in the data gathering and validation phase of the project offered by the BOI, Department of Agriculture’s National Meat Inspection Service, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and Bureau of Plant Industry, Bureau of Local Government Development under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Cold Chain Association of the Philippines Inc.

“With the database’s completion, specifically on generating viable investment locations based on supply-demand gap analytics, the BOI can now fine-tune its investment prospectus for the cold chain industry,” said Francis Peñaflor, acting chief of BOI’s Agri-based Industry Division.