CJ CheilJedang completes Philippine xylose plant

By Nam Kwang-sik SEOUL, May 19 (Yonhap) -- CJ CheilJedang Corp., South Korea's largest food firm, said Thursday it dedicated a joint-venture plant in the Philippines that produces xylose, a natural sweetener derived from coconut shells. CJ Toyota Tsusho Philippines Inc.'s plant, built in Davao del Sur on the country's second-largest and easternmost island of Mindanao, has an annual capacity of 15,000 tons of xylose, CJ CheilJedang said in a statement. The joint venture's annual production capacity is the world's second-largest after Denmark's Danisco A/S, which produces 25,000 tons of xylose a year, CJ CheilJedang said. Xylose is mainly used as the raw material xylitol, known to be one of the major functional sweeteners in the production of gum and mouthwash. CJ Toyota Tsusho Philippines plans to double its production capacity by 2013, and is aiming to post 30 billion won (US$27.7 million) in sales this year and more than 100 billion won in sales in 2013. In September 2009, CJ CheilJedang set up the joint venture together with three other companies -- Toyota Tsusho Corp., a trading unit of Japan's Toyota Group; South Korea's food and beverage producer Binggrae Co.; and the Anflo Management and Investment Corp. (ANFLOCOR) of the Philippines. CJ holds a 45 percent stake in the joint venture, followed by Toyota Tsusho with 34 percent, Binggrae with 11 percent and ANFLOCOR with 10 percent.