November 9, 2009

 

Sovereign Foods invests US$9.3 million in poultry business

 

 

South African agribusiness Sovereign Foods has invested ZAR70 million (US$9.3 million) into its poultry processing plant and support services, creating a processing capacity of up to 60 million birds per year.

 

The investment will nearly double the number of jobs at Sovereign Foods' Uitenhage factory and surrounding farms.

 

The company has invested nearly ZAR700 million (US$93 million) in the processing plant, farms and hatchery over the past three years, and the equipment is able to process up to 12,000 birds per hour.

 

In total, the facility can process about 8,000 tonnes of chicken a month, with the capacity designed to process up to 12,000 tonnes a month.

 

Sovereign Foods CEO Mike Davis said the downturn in the economy has boosted chicken demand, which in turn resulted in a steady increase in production at the plant.

 

The company's new ZAR61 million (US$8.1 million) hatchery is currently producing 680,000 day-old chicks a week and is designed to ramp up to about two million chicks a week.

 

Sovereign Foods COO Blaine van Rensburg said that there are opportunities for further Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) ventures for farms and suppliers of corn, soy, and associated byproducts from wheat-milling and oilseed crushing.