MAKATI City, Philippines — As the Philippines braces for the potential impact of El Niño, the need to build more resilient food supply chains is becoming increasingly important.
Based on the latest report from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, El Niño has affected nearly 451,000 people nationwide, with agricultural losses and damage reaching P6.5 million. With El Niño conditions expected to persist into early 2027, according to DOST-PAGASA, food producers and agribusinesses face renewed pressure to anticipate risks to raw-material availability, production, and distribution.
On World Food Day, regional food and agribusiness company Aboitiz Foods underscores the importance of a proactive, mill-to-meal approach to help maintain a reliable food supply amid growing climate and market uncertainties.
“Food security is not just about having enough food available today. We also need to consider how reliably we can produce and distribute food, and how we can withstand disruption and continue serving communities over time,” said Teddy Deocares, First Vice President for Supply Chain at Aboitiz Foods. “That requires us to look ahead, understand potential risks, and work closely with our partners to maintain continuity across the supply chain.”
Preparing before disruption occurs
Extreme climate conditions, such as El Niño, are one of several external risks that can influence agricultural production, commodity availability, and the movement of goods across markets. For Aboitiz Foods, anticipating market developments, commodity trends, and shipping conditions is crucial to ensuring reliable operations.
Operating across eight countries, the company is working with suppliers on advance arrangements where possible and coordinates with cross-functional teams to anticipate risks and align responses.
Deocares said, “We are taking a proactive approach by monitoring developments early, planning our purchases and freight arrangements, and coordinating across our teams, so we can make more informed decisions and reduce avoidable disruption. We also look at how we can help customers respond to changing conditions.”
According to Deocares, the company’s preparation also involves assessing the availability of key ingredients, reviewing inventory needs for selected commodities, and managing operational requirements such as water availability and feed quality.
These measures help the company maintain continuity while supporting customers whose own operations depend on a reliable supply of animal nutrition products.
Looking beyond climate risks
Climate-related pressures are only one part of a volatile operating environment for food and agribusiness companies. Global disruptions, including the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, continue to drive up the cost of fuel, freight, and raw materials, creating additional pressure across agricultural and food supply chains.
In the Philippines, the challenges confronting local hog raisers emphasize a critical truth: building a reliable food system is rooted in the economics of food production. When farmgate prices fall below production costs, hog raisers face greater difficulty sustaining operations and reinvesting in their farms. Over time, this can affect the industry’s capacity to maintain and rebuild local supply.
For Deocares, these issues reinforce the need to consider the entire value chain rather than treating supply, production costs, and affordability as separate concerns.
“A resilient food system must work for consumers, farmers, and businesses to remain sustainable over the long term,” undescored Deocares, adding that, “Closer public-private collaboration is key to strengthening local production and supply chain agility, addressing the challenges faced by producers, and helping keep food accessible and affordable over the long term.”
Building a dependable supply chain
Alongside its operational preparedness measures, Aboitiz Foods continues to invest in capabilities that support more efficient production and distribution. The planned Pilmico feedmill at West Cebu Estate in Balamban, Cebu, is expected to boost production capacity and complement the company’s existing feedmill in Iligan City, which serves customers across the Visayas and Mindanao. This new facility aims to provide greater flexibility within Aboitiz Foods’ Philippine food manufacturing network.
In Butuan City, Aboitiz Foods, through its subsidiary, Pilmico Animal Nutrition Corporation, is working with partners to relaunch a meat-cutting plant, bringing the facility back into operation to supply fresh pork to restaurant owners, food-related businesses, and households.
Together, these initiatives demonstrate how investments in local production and processing can strengthen the company’s ability to serve customers and deliver value across different markets.
For Aboitiz Foods, businesses, suppliers, producers, the government, and consumers all have a role in building a food system that can better withstand changing conditions.
“Even at the household level, simple practices such as reducing food waste, using food and water responsibly, and avoiding unnecessary stockpiling can make a difference. Collectively, they contribute to how responsibly we manage our food resources,” said Deocares. “That same sense of responsibility needs to extend across the entire food value chain. Ultimately, a resilient food system requires everyone to do their part—from how we consume food in our homes to how we produce, process, and distribute it across the region.”
Building a resilient food system requires anticipating risks, preparing for uncertainty, and reinforcing collaborations across the value chain to keep food moving, even amid disruptions.
Through its integrated operations and partnerships across Asia, and by proactively managing potential risks to its business, Aboitiz Foods continues to strengthen and is committed to delivering lasting value to customers and consumers, supporting a more reliable food supply, and sustainably feeding Asia’s growth from mill to meal.