Cold storage industry capacity to grow by 8% in 2024

Local cold storage capacity is expected to grow by at least eight percent this year to around 750,000 metric tons, driven by higher storage demand for food items, according to the Cold Chain Association of the Philippines (CCAP).

CCAP president Anthony Dizon said the expected better agricultural production would be the main driver for the industry’s capacity expansion.

“We forecast that we will grow by eight to 10 percent per annum. From what we are seeing, the growth seems to be sustainable,” Dizon told The STAR.

“Even now as we speak, there are already three projects in the pipeline due for inauguration this year. Everybody is hinging on the commitments of the administration that there is going to be greater emphasis on agricultural production,” Dizon said.

Dizon said that the cold chain industry capacity rose by at least 50,000 MT in 2023 to 700,000 MT from 650,000 MT in 2022.

Since 2021, the cold chain industry has been expanding at a conservative rate of 50,000 MT per year, he said.

According to Dizon, the bulk of the higher demand for cold storage space would still come from the meat sector, which accounts for 60 to 65 percent of total occupancy.

“We always emphasize that the cold chain (industry) is simply one of the components of the food supply chain, the operative word is still supply,” he said.

Dizon added that the cold chain industry expects continuous arrival of imported pork to augment the country’s supply as local production remains insufficient to meet overall demand.

“We also have to consider the reality that there are still phenomena that affect our capability to produce food commodities to the level we used to before,” he said.

“For example, (we used to produce) approximately two million metric tons of pork (but now we are) down to 1.2 million to 1.3 million metric tons. There is no relief in sight in the short term,” he added.

Nonetheless, Dizon said CCAP plans to venture into servicing the vegetables and marine fisheries sectors more in the future.

The country imported 1.2 million MT of various meat products in 2023, about 11 percent lower than the record high volume of 1.36 million MT recorded in 2022, based on Bureau of Animal Industry data.

The double-digit decline in overall meat imports was caused by lower purchases of pork abroad, which fell by almost 17 percent on an annual basis.

Total pork imports in 2023 reached 591,888 MT versus the 710,362 MT recorded in 2022.