The Future of Cold Storage

Qua family-owned Cold Storage Seafood is embarking on an ambitious expansion of its seafood imports and cold storage warehousing business in the next three to five years, as it embarks by Aug. 8, 2026, on its 30th year of corporate existence, according to its president Marco Qua.

- MARIANNE GO

With its ever-growing seafood import business that now averages 4,800 tons annually (roughly 400,000 kilos or 400 tons per month of various seafood products), Cold Storage Seafood plans to expand its cold storage facilities to more provinces in the country, specifically near agriculture production areas such as Cagayan de Oro, General Santos and Iloilo, Marco told Business Snippets.

This is also in line with Cold Storage's plan to expand its imports to include more meat and vegetable products. At present, Qua said, Cold Storage already imports some meat products, but intends to expand to a wider variety of products.

Cold Storage's ambitious expansion plan, he revealed, would eventually include tapping the local capital market down the line, as the company currently self-finances the construction of its facilities.

At present, Cold Storage's refrigerated warehousing facilities are located in three major cities only—Manila, Cebu and Bacolod.

Cold Storage alone, Qua explained, uses its Manila refrigerated warehouse facility entirely for its own requirements, while the Cebu and Bacolod warehouses accommodate other major clients that include the Cheng family-owned Bounty PH and Yakult.

Cold Storage, thus, has drawn up plans to acquire more land in various areas where there is agriculture production, and construct a network of refrigerated warehouses that would greatly boost the viability of the Philippine agriculture sector that has long faced the problem of spoilage due to the lack of adequate cold storage facilities that farmers and fisherfolk can use to store their abundant harvests and make them last longer through the lean months.