Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Each strawberry farm in La Trinidad town, Benguet records 200 to 300 strawberry pickers each day in the months of December to February. Michelle Soriano, ABS-CBN News

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Each strawberry farm in La Trinidad town, Benguet records 200 to 300 strawberry pickers each day in the months of December to February. Michelle Soriano, ABS-CBN News
 

Jekki Pascual

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/176354691143520191115-strawberry.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Michelle Soriano, ABS-CBN News "/>Michelle Soriano, ABS-CBN News </div>MANILA — Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) wants to expand its agribusiness unit by venturing into berry farms in the Philippines.MPIC’s Metro Pacific Agro Ventures (MPAV) said it plans to build greenhouses across the country, one of which may be built in Benguet and would have a strawberry farm.MPAV Chief Commercial Officer Toby Gatchalian said they want to improve the supply of strawberries in the country and make it more abundant with the hopes of also lowering the price.“Yung isang variety lang sa Pilipinas is what you call the Sweet Charlie. Paminsan-minsan lang available, not all year round. At every time it is available umaabot sa P700 to 1,000 per kilo yan,” Gatchalian told reporters during an online briefing in Hong Kong.(The only variety in the Philippines is the Sweet Charlie. That is not always available, but when it is, prices reach P700 to P1,000 per kilo)<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2025/11/17/lrmc-hopes-mpic-stays-with-lrt-1-2301">LRMC hopes MPIC stays with LRT 1 </a></div>He added, “We are first looking into a strawberry farm in Tuba, Benguet. But we are also looking into blueberries.”MPIC Chairman Manny Pangilian himself ordered for the group to include strawberries and berries in the plans.Pangilinan said, “I told them to grow berries in Baguio kasi Philex has 4,000 hectares in the mountains… I told them you can have 1,000 hectares for the greenhouses.”Aside from the Baguio-Benguet area, MPAV is also looking at expanding its property in Bukidnon which is currently the home of over a thousand cows for its milk business.“Exploring the use of our Bukidnon property to build high-value crops, including blueberries. There is no supply of blue berries in the Philippines. It’s all imported,” added Gatchalian.He also said the milk business is growing significantly. Ice cream of Carmen’s Best used to be its biggest earner, but now the milk business has outgrown the ice cream unit.Pangilinan said that the country is dependent on imported dairy, but that has been reduced in the first year of operations of its milk unit.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2025/11/13/mpic-eyes-villar-s-primewater-2149">MPIC eyes Villar&#x27;s PrimeWater </a></div>“The dependence of the country from [imported] dairy products has moved down from 99 percent to 97 percent. Our contribution to food security in the dairy side is 2 percent,” said Pangilinan.The MPIC chairman said the agri business daily operations is still losing money despite growing exponentially, but he is seeing improved numbers in the coming years with profitability possible by 2026 or 2027.

Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) wants to expand its agribusiness unit by venturing into berry farms in the Philippines.

Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) wants to expand its agribusiness unit by venturing into berry farms in the Philippines.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp to build strawberry farm

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Metro Pacific Investments Corp to build strawberry farm

Jekki Pascual,

ABS-CBN News

Published November 19, 2025 06:11 PM PHT

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Updated November 21, 2025 10:24 AM PHT

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