U.S. firms plan investments in Philippines

U.S. companies have pledged to invest a total of US$351.3 million in biofuel, food processing and aquaculture projects in the Philippines, the government said. U.S.-based biofuel producer Alan Group is planning to build a 360-million-liter a year jatropha oil processing plant on the main island of Luzon which will cost US$312.5 million, Manila’s Department of Agriculture said in a statement. Novick Industries, another private U.S. firm, plans to spend US$15 million in a joint venture for a feedmill project, the statement said. The investment pledges followed a U.S. trade and investment mission led by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to the Philippines in late October. (November 11, 2009)