P450-M palm oil refinery ‘changes’ SOCCSKSARGEN landscape

The financial assistance supported the construction of GARECO’s main facility, which will be the first palm oil refinery plant in the central Mindanao region

Economic activities in South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City are expected to improve once the P450 million palm oil refinery is completed in the first quarter of 2024.

The Integrated Palm Oil Processing Facility, owned by the Mindanao-based Garcia Refinery Corporation under the A.C. Garcia Group of Companies, will improve the socio-economic status of oil palm growers in the region. The company and its parent firm have already tapped 63 farmers to manage their combined 3,065 hectares of oil palm.

“LandBank looks forward to the completion of the very-first refinery mill in SOCCSKSARGEN. We remain committed to serving the development requirements of the palm oil industry and the whole agriculture sector towards inclusive and sustainable countryside development,” Land Bank of the Philippines LandBank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo said in a statement.

State-owned Land Bank of the Philippines has financed the country’s first palm oil refinery through a P450-million loan granted to Mindanao-based Garcia Refinery Corporation under the A.C. Garcia Group of Companies.

The bank said the financial assistance supported the construction of GARECO’s main facility, which will be the first palm oil refinery plant in the central Mindanao region.

The construction of the refinery mill started in July 2022 and is scheduled for completion within the first quarter of 2024.

The refinery mill is expected to make oil palm products more accessible and affordable for the local market and serve as a stable source of income for oil palm growers from Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao.

The facility will also generate employment opportunities and expand the company’s workforce from five to about 35 to 50 workers, composed of a mill manager, supervisors, operators, mechanics, electricians, laboratory analysts, and staff for administrative and marketing functions.

We remain committed to serving the development requirements of the palm oil industry and the whole agriculture sector towards inclusive and sustainable countryside development.

LandBank’s Term Loan Facility finances business capital expenditures, including expansion, purchasing additional machinery and equipment, and permanent working capital arising from expanded operations.

Interested borrowers can be single proprietors, partners, or corporations that have projects on agri-business, manufacturing, trading and other services.

SUN FANYUE/XINHUA THIS combined photo shows a file photo displaying the interior of the former Tianjin No.1 Thermal Power Plant (top) and a photo taken on displaying the interior of a large commercial complex transformed from the plant in north China’s Tianjin. The Tianjin No.1 Thermal Power Plant, which was founded in 1937, closed on 18 November 2011. After years of transformation work, a large commercial complex, which has kept the original space structure of the old plant buildings while adding modern elements, emerged from the plant site and opened to the public just before the New Year holiday.