Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF), a major producer of frozen shrimp as well as value-added poultry and pork products and animal feed, ranked No. 859 on the recently posted Forbes Global 2000 listing for 2021. The Bangkok-headquartered company was the only Stock Exchange of Thailand-listed company from the food sector named in the annual ranking of the world’s largest publicly traded enterprises.
CP Foods’ sales, profits and total assets performances have witnessed growth despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic (SARS-CoV-2) that spread from China to infect virtually the entire world with the Covid-19 respiratory disease over the past 18 months or so.
This year’s ranking is up from No. 1071 in 2020, as total sales hit $18.8 billion, with profit of $812.3 million, asset value of $25 billion, and $7.9 billion in market capitalization.
Current recognition on the Global 2000 list reflects the company’s sustainable growth even in the unprecedented crisis of the deadly and economically destabilizing Covid-19 pandemic. The company cites its stringent preventive measures against the outbreak and efficiency improvements throughout the work process as the significant factors for its positive performance.
Forbes Global 2000 is regarded as a prestigious business ranking that evaluates listed companies in 63 countries across the world based on sales, profit, assets and market value.
‘Greening’ of Pig Farms with Solar Panels and Biogas
Meanwhile, CP Foods swine farms are transitioning toward renewable energy sources with its increasing installation of solar panels. This follows a successful biogas project across all of the company’s pig farms that looked into decarbonizing the operation and, subsequently, mitigating the impact of climate change.
The adoption of renewable energy in swine farm is a part of CP Foods’ Green Farm, a community and environmental friendly farming model.
“The company established an eco-friendly farming model ‘CPF Greenfarm’ in 2009,” said CP Foods’ Executive Vice President Somporn Jermpong. “It has applied a circular economy principle into the pig farm to reduce waste from the farming process, improve operation efficiency, and ultimately reduce our environmental footprint,”
CPF is running a “Solar Farm” pilot project at a number of locations. The Kanchanaburi farm, Sithep farm and Phetchabun farm can generate up to 250 kilowatts, while the Wichian Buri farm has a capacity of 200 kilowatts. From the success of the first trial, the company is expanding the project to six more pig farms where the combined total power is 1.3 megawatts.
The solar project is not the only green energy project at the pig farm. Previously, Biogas production was deployed at all of CPF’s pig farms, enabling them to cut electricity costs by 50-80%. Also, the waste-to-green energy source can reportedly reduce foul odor and greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 370,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.
“All 98 of our pig farms in Thailand are using electricity generated by biogas. It is more efficient and having less environmental impact,” stated Somporn.
He added: “Our biogas system and the Solar Farm Project will become two major power sources for CPF pig farms. It is expected to be able to replace 100% of the electricity, enabling pig farms use entirely clean energy. This way, carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced, making the farms even more sustainable.”
Aside clean energy adoption, CP Foods’ pig farms reuse recycled water from post-biogas production within the operation to reduce the use of water from natural sources.
