OSI Group launches two new poultry processing plants in China

OSI Group, LLC opened its ninth and tenth processing plants in China on October 19, including a multi-protein further processing (FP) facility and an integrated poultry operation in Xihua, Henan Province.

 

With overall investment in these operations exceeding US$300 million, both plants will utilise the latest processing technology for optimal efficiency and quality output. They have also obtained HACCP and ISO 22000 certifications, and employ the latest Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). With LEED certification, the FP facility is one of the first such plants in China.

 

The FP plant will process poultry and beef products for chain account customers in China and also ship to select export markets. Designed to become OSI's largest food processing facility globally, the two-phase FP facility will measure 208,000 square meters when fully completed in 2016. Spanning over 36,500 square meters, the DaOSI slaughter plant will also be OSI's largest integrated poultry operation globally.

 

Tapping into the fresh raw material supplied from the adjacent DaOSI poultry operation, phase one of the FP plant will process par-fried and fully cooked chicken products, and employ nearly 500 workers; while phase two, which will be operational by 2016, will include additional high-speed lines and expand the plant's product capabilities to value-added beef.

 

DaOSI is a joint venture company between OSI and Doyoo Group, a leading Chinese poultry company. This Halal-certified plant has designed capacity to process 120 million birds per year, making it the largest single-facility poultry operation in China. As a fully integrated operation, this includes 100% company-owned breeder and broiler farms, a hatchery and a feed mill capable of producing 800,000 tonnes of feed annually.

 

The opening of the Henan operation marks OSI's third fully vertically-integrated poultry operation in China, joining those in Shandong and Fujian provinces. With this addition in central China, OSI will be on track to process more than 300 million birds per year and become a leading national player, spanning geographies of the north, central and south of the country.

 

"In total, OSI Henan will become the largest further processing facility for value-added meat in all of Asia," said Brent Afman, senior vice president and managing director for OSI's Asia Pacific region. "OSI Henan will have the capability to support our valued customers' growth plans for years to come."

 

OSI President and Chief Operating Office, David McDonald, concurs, "We have invested a great deal in China and are quite appreciative of the growth here. There is no other place in the world growing as quickly as China, and we feel fortunate to be a part of it. We look at China as the number one growth effort among all of our global activities."

 

OSI has been operating in China since the opening of its first factory in Beijing in 1992. To date, the company has invested more than US$500 million in vertically integrated poultry in the country. In addition, the company operates four produce plants and a dough operation.

 

OSI also operates facilities in India, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Australia, and expects to employ nearly 10,000 people throughout the Asia Pacific region by the end of 2013.