MLBA13: February / March 2010
Updates on...
TUF is on track to meet its export targets
Half way to realising its 2012 "business vision," Thai Union Frozen Products (TUF) will soon achieve its target of having foreign-exchange earnings which account for 50% of the company's total revenue.
The company's plan is to achieve total sales of US$3 billion by 2012, with export income accounting for more than 50% of the revenue. The company's export income accounted for 45% of its total sales worth US$1.49 billion during the first nine months of 2009.
Started in 2008, the five-year plan foresees big opportunities in the domestic market, with the company's investments abroad playing a more important role.
TUF president Thiraphong Chansiri said the company has set a clear business strategy for its overseas investments. Its investment in the US will serve as a business model for expansion in the West, as its operations there now involves not only tuna manufacturing under the brand Chicken of the Sea - the third largest tuna brand in the US - but also frozen seafood-products distribution.
The investments in the US include Tri-Union Seafoods, Empress International and Tri-Union Frozen Food, now TUF's biggest business overseas. Total revenues from these companies have reached a combined US$800 million, accounting for 40% of TUF's sales.
CP to develop poultry project in southern Vietnam
Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group plans to invest US$92 million to build modern poultry farms and chicken meat processing factories in southern Vietnam from 2009 through 2010.
Under the project, CP will use locally produced corn and bran to produce 130,000 tonnes of poultry feed, and to produce 65,000 tonnes of chicken meat a year by 2012, both for local consumption and export, Suwes Wangrungarun, head of CP Vietnam's Information Division said.
The company negotiated successfully with local authorities of southern provinces of Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh for location arrangement and will start the project soon.
Cobb secures new agreement in Kazakhstan
A new agency agreement with IG BELCO will extend the availability of Cobb broiler breeding stock in Kazakhstan.
Wout van Wolfswinkel, parent stock sales manager of Cobb Europe, who signed the agreement with Geert Horemans of IG BELCO, sees the move as opening up of new opportunities for the breed in a market where Cobb and Hybro have had customers in the past.
"The Kazakhstan market is not large, accounting for some 850,000 parent stock a year, but the country does import a substantial amount of poultry meat, around 90,000 tonnes a year, and is seeking to expand production,'' said van Wolfswinkel.
IG BELCO, which is a sales company for feed premixes and vitamins blends, has a local office in Almaty. The company has been active in the market for 20 years and has another part of the business in medicine sales.
Betagro to expand chicken production
Betagro Group, one of Thailand's leading integrated agribusiness enterprises, plans to increase the production capacity of chicken products by 40% this year to cash in on a brighter export outlook.
The expansion includes a new THB600-million (US$18 million) cooked-products plant located at its second food complex in Lop Buri province. This will increase capacity of processed chicken at Ajinomoto Betagro Frozen Foods (Thailand) Co to 15,000 tonnes a month from 10,000 tonnes. The capacity of BFI Broiler Farm Co will also expand with 30,000 more chickens per week.
The additional production would support growing demands from existing markets and new destinations including Spain and South Africa. Betagro expects to export about 54,000 tonnes of chicken this year, up from 46,000 tonnes shipped in the previous year, said Jakkrin Taepaisitphongse, senior vice-president for production poultry integration of Betagro Group.
JBS seeks to widen meat processing, distribution network
JBS SA, the world's biggest beef producer, may seek acquisitions in Europe and Asia to process and distribute meat as it seeks to cut the cost of selling its products worldwide.
According to JBS investor relations director Jerry O'Callaghan, the acquisitions would be part of the company's five-year expansion plan and would boost profit margins.
JBS controls more than 10% of the world's beef market after about 30 acquisitions since 1993, including Swift & Co. in 2007, Smithfield Foods Inc.'s beef business last year and Pilgrim's Pride Corp. In September 2009, it planed a US$2 billion convertible-bond sale and a US$2-billion initial public offering of shares in its US unit to fund the acquisitions.
The meat producer aims to sell 60% of its products through its own network, O'Callaghan said.
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