By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat Mondelez International, the world leader in snack foods, is looking at expanding its portfolio of products available in the Philippines, which has a growing snacking population, but is making sure it is protecting its core items where they are market leaders while pursuing product innovations that appeal to the increasingly mobile consumers in a sustainable manner. Visiting Mondelez global Chairman and CEO Dirk Van de Put told a media roundtable on Sunday they would like to develop more products in the Philippines to further strengthen its presence here where they have been operating for the past 56 years. “We want to develop here more for our biscuits and chocolates and in gums and candies if we can because that is our biggest categories worldwide and that is where we have most of our investments and most R and D and that is where we see the fastest growth so we make sure we are well represented,” said Van de Put, whose visit to the Philippines was the first in a long while for a Mondelez global chairman and CEO to do so. The visit was part of his journey to developing markets that includes Mumbai, India and Cairo, Egypt before proceeding to the Philippines, which is the only market he visited in southeast Asia in this trip. Mondelez Philippines Country Director Ashish Pisharodi also echoed Van de Put’s saying there are new products that they are looking at, but said that they are also trying to pace properly any product introduction so as not to sacrifice the already established core products. He said that to ensure success also means protecting its core products and not to cause any weakening as they try to build new products. He cited the case of its cheese product Eden, which is the country’s number one cheese brand in the country. The local firm has also been successful in introducing innovation products in their chocolates and local flavors for beverage products. For instance, they have introduced locally the Cadbury Dairy Milk Lickables. They have unique flavors for Tang like local fruits pomelo, dalandan and calamansi. Mondelez brands have been market leader for Tang powdered beverages, Eden cheese, mayonnaise and sandwich spread, Cheez Whiz spread, Oreo cookies, Tiger Biscuits, belVita breakfast biscuits, as well as Toblerone and Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates. The company employs about 450 people in the Philippines and operates a manufacturing facility along Sucat Road in Paranaque City. Van de Put also cited the Philippines as an important business for Mondelez and as a developing market it has shown big growth in the snacking foods category. “Consumers here are snacking quite a lot which is more than in other countries. So, we see prosperity and we expect our business to grow and accelerate here and we have overall high expectations for the market,” said Van de Put, who made snacking a major thrust upon becoming the company’s top leader. The Philippines grew double digit in 2018 ahead of other markets in the region. Van de Put also cited the Philippines saying it falls under the developing category of markets where 80 percent of snacking in the world are coming from. Among the food categories, Van de Put stressed that the snacking category is the fastest growing. He attributed this to the changing lifestyle of consumers, who have become busier, the urbanization and longer commuting time that sit down eating is fading as people become more mobile. “What is changing is the attitude towards food and snacking is the preferred choice so that is really the base of innovation of products,” he added noting that 70 percent of consumers snack. Snacking is defined as eating in between meals. The older generation like those 50 and above, he said, may still be thinking of three meals a day, but the millennials prefer snacking in moderation, they also focus on health and wellness and companies that make these products. Among its products, Eden is the most unique in the Philippines. The company is sourcing some of its ingredients locally, but does not source local cacao seeds for their chocolates saying they have to be competitive in their sourcing. Mondelez sources some of its cacao from Indonesia. To help planet earth, Van de Put said the company has made a global commitment in October 2018 to ensure that by the year 2025, all packaging used for its products will be recyclabled. Under this commitment, the company vows to make all paper-based packaging sustainably sourced by 2020, that is, using paper that has been recycled or from verified suppliers who also practice environmental care. The snack food company also vows to eliminate 65 million kgs of packaging material worldwide. At present, at least 90 percent of its packaging used are already recyclable. The company will further work to make it easy for consumers to recycle or re-use product packs after use, leveraging on the vast array of local recycling systems around the world. All these commitments will build up to the company’s global long-term vision for zero-net waste packaging. Locally, Mondelez Philippines has implemented some initiatives to help protect the well-being of the planet. This includes continuous reduction of the company’s use of water and energy, and carbon emissions. It has strengthened its commitment to recycling by joining the Philippine Alliance for Recycling and Materials Sustainability (PARMS). Together with other corporations in the country, PARMS is investing in a P25-M residual plastic recycling facility that will address the need to recycle plastics. To date PARMS has partnered with the Parañaque local government which will serve as the pilot site for the recycling program. Collection of plastic waste through seven schools in the city has already begun. These plastic wastes will be turned into ecobricks or recycled building bricks which will be turned over to the schools for their use in facilities improvement. The company has also worked to reduce the waste it creates through its manufacturing. To date, 98 percent of the total waste generated from its Sucat, Parañaque manufacturing plant are either recyclable or recycled, such as glass bottles or paper cartons. It also works with third party partners to use product waste for animal feeds. Inside their plant, there is also a materials recovery facility (MRF) which properly handles, segregates and shreds any packaging waste and sent to a cement-industry partner to be used as co-fuel. Van de Put said that sustainability for Mondelez is all about resiliency of the whole supply chain. For instance, they made sure that its ingredients for chocolates come renewable sources and does not infringe on environment. The goal is to use as little of the resources of the earth, said Van de Put.