Thailand: GFPT outlines billion-baht poultry investment

GFPT, Thailands’ SET-listed chicken producer and exporter, has outlined a 1.5-billion-baht investment plan to help it manage its business more sustainably and achieve annual sales of 20 billion baht in three years.

The investment will increase the group’s capacity to process 300,000 chickens a day, up from 250,000. To achieve this parent-stock chicken farms would be added this year and two more broiler farm projects from 2013-14.

Poultry exports
Vice-president Jutamas Ingpochai said the expansion would lead to stronger exports of poultry meat, which are projected at 480,000 tonnes this year, up by 4% from last year. Ingpochai said the possibility the EU could resume imports of fresh chickens from Thailand by mid-year is promising.

The EU and leading importer Japan banned imports of raw meat from Thailand after bird flu was detected in 2004. Only imports of heat-treated meat have been allowed since then. Thailand has been free from bird flu since 2009, and most export-oriented poultry farms have adopted biosecurity farming models to ensure hygienic meat.

GFPT earns 1 billion baht from exports to the EU and forecasts lifting the ban would improve export prices of all chicken products. The EU made up 60% of export volume last year, 14,000 tonnes, plus 16,300 tonnes in indirect exports.

Joint venture
In addition, a joint venture between GFPT and Nichirei Food Inc of Japan, worth 2.2 billion baht, opened in late 2010 and is expected to hit full capacity this year, contributing over 20% to GFPT’s revenue.

The joint venture, named GFN, requires 100,000 birds from GFPT farms every day for processed chicken meat products for export. This prompted GFPT to expand its broiler farm capacity to 250,000 birds a day last year. GFPT also sells livestock and aqua feed domestically such as shrimp and fish feed.

Source: Bangkok Post