October 11, 2007

China's Liuhe Group to boost broiler production

China's Liuhe Group will sell a portion of its stake in Fuxin Liuhe Livestock and Agricultural Company to Japan's Mitsui and Company. Both parties signed the agreement on Monday (Oct 8).

Under the agreement, Mitsui and Company will also invest in a project in the Fuxin region, Liaoning province. When completed, it will supply high quality chickens and chicken meat products to residents in Beijing.

Liu Yonghao, Chairman of the Liuhe Group, said that the tie up with Mitsui and Company will help raise chicken and duck broiler production standards. Through contract farming, farmers in the Fuxin region can also look forward to receiving higher income.

With this strategic cooperation, Liuhe's output of chicken and duck broilers is expected to reach 1.3 billion heads by 2012. Currently, Liuhe Group has an inventory of some 300 million broilers and its annual slaughtering capacity stands at 500 million broilers.

RMB1=US$0.1332 (Oct 11)