New facility to help central Asia wean off European poultry genetics imports

Central Asia's 120 million population consumes around 1.2 million tonnes of poultry meat annually. Photo: Canva

Indian company Avee Broilers has announced plans to build a US$43 million poultry genetics facility in Uzbekistan, which will tremendously change trade flows across the central Asian region.

Coupled with the poultry industry development plans pursued by the Uzbek government, the facility will help transform Uzbekistan from a net broiler meat importer into a poultry exporter, Gazeta. uz, a local news outlet reported, citing a source in the Uzbek Poultry Industry Association.

The project will help central Asia – a region comprising Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan – mitigate its dependence on imported poultry, which is now primarily delivered from the European Union.

Avee Broilers held preliminary talks with the local authorities to establish poultry production assets in the Zomin, Bakhmal, and Gallaorol districts of the Jizzakh region and in the Bulungur district of the Samarkand region.

A part of the investment cost is due to be covered by local businesses, though concrete details are yet to be revealed.

Meeting demand

Under the discussed agreement, Avee Broilers will establish capacities to produce 4 million heads of parent flock in Uzbekistan per year.

Central Asia’s 120 million population consumes around 1.2 million tonnes of poultry meat annually. The poultry industry requires around 5.5 million heads of parent flock per year, which means that the project will meet the local demand for genetics by more than 80%.

In the first stage, in 2024-2025, Avee Broilers plan to establish purebred flock breeding in Uzbekistan. The launch of a hatchery with industrial production of day-old chicks is preliminary scheduled for 2025.

Poultry farmers will benefit

The project will benefit central Asia’s poultry industry, helping farmers to save money on logistics costs, among other things.

“Today, the logistics cost for parent flock delivery from European countries is US$2 per head. When this project is implemented in Uzbekistan, the cost will be 50 cents per head, which could save central Asia up to US$5 million [per year],” Avee Broilers said in the statement, quoted by Gazeta.Uz.

Development of the local poultry industry

Uzbek authorities have been making efforts to develop the poultry industry in recent years. In June 2024, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree requiring the government to facilitate the establishment of a poultry cluster in the country for US$100 million.

Among other things, it was unveiled at that time that the country was planning to cooperate with an unknown US company to become self-sufficient in poultry genetics.