August 23, 2013

  

Al Watania Poultry, the largest chicken producer in the Middle East, is setting up a Cobb grandparent operation in Saudi Arabia that will start supplying its own broiler breeder requirements this year.

"Traditionally Oman has been a large importer of broiler hatching eggs, with around a quarter of India's hatching egg exports going there," said Euan Meldrum, marketing manager of Cobb Europe. "This is now changing as the industry embarks on an ambitious expansion programme with the Cobb500 now 100% of their parent stock.

Oman is the latest Middle East country where the Cobb500 broiler breeder is rapidly gaining ground, helping the drive for self-sufficiency. 

"The country's 3.1 million people eat an average of around 20 kilogrammes of poultry a year and, with production on course to quadruple in 10 years, it will be more than 50% self-sufficient by 2015."

"The Cobb500 is ideally suited to the Middle East region, adapting well to warmer climates with integrators benefiting from the breed's efficiency right through the production chain from high chick numbers to yield advantage in the processing plant," added Euan Meldrum.