UAE’s Lulu Group starts its operations in the Philippines
dubai — In a bid to strengthen its reach in the Asean countries, Lulu Group International, a highly diversified entity based in the UAE, has begun their operations in the Philippines by setting up its stateof-the-art logistics and export centre in Laguna near Manila.
May Exports Philippines Inc was officially inaugurated by Jose Gabriel Lavina, Under Secretary, Dept of Agriculture in the presence of Ramil L. Hernandez, Governor of Laguna province; Timmy Chipeco, Mayor of Calamba; Ambassador Amable Aguiluz, Philippine President’s Special envoy to GCC countries; Hamad Saeed Al Zaabi, UAE Ambassador; Jaideep Mazumdar, Indian Ambassador; Yusuffali MA, chairman of Lulu Group; Salim MA, Lulu director; and other dignitaries.
Ideally located at Calamba Premiere International Park, the new centre will be primarily engaged in sourcing, storing, packing and exporting fruit, vegetables and other commodities from the Philippines to its more than 150 hypermarkets spread across the GCC countries and Egypt. This move by the Lulu Group will further boost its sourcing operations and help bring quality Filipino products for its large customer base across many countries.
“It is part of our ongoing strategy to set up own sourcing and food processing units around the world to ensure uninterrupted supply and maintain competitive pricing by eliminating third parties. The Philippines has a vast variety of Fruits, Vegetables, Ethnic Filipino Food products, Frozen food and an extensive range of other commodities like health and beauty, garments, footwear etc,” said Yusuffali.
Earlier Yusuffali along with the management team had called upon President Rodrigo Duterte at Malacanang Palace and updated him about the group’s investment plans in the Philippines. President Duterte has assured Yusuffali of all possible support for the future expansion.
“We are working closely with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to boost export of these products from the Philippines to our Hypermarkets spread across Middle East & North Africa [Mena] region, Malaysia and Indonesia,” he said.
“We are already directly importing about $10 million worth of fruits, vegetables and other commodities from the Philippines, which will be increased to $30 million within a year,” added Yusuffali.
At present, Lulu Group’s total trade volume of Filipino products stands at $35 million which includes import and local purchase.