RIYADH, 30 April 2004 — Saudi Arabia is importing more poultry products from India as Bird Flu hits other Asian exporters, said B. Soundararajan, managing director of Suguna Poultry Farm and president of All India Poultry Breeders Association.
According to the Saudi Ministry of Agriculture, total poultry meat production in the Kingdom is expected to reach 530,000 tons by the end of 2004, up about four percent compared to the 2002 level of 510,000 tons, but not enough to meet local consumption demands.
Soundarajan said that Supreme Sugunais, a 50-50 joint venture of Coimbatore-based Suguna Poultry Farm Ltd and a Saudi chicken concern, Supreme Foods Company Ltd (SFCL) is one of the six large chicken meat-processing plants in India.
Supreme Suguna has been flooded with orders from the Middle East, including the Kingdom, in the wake of the latest Bird Flu outbreaks.
“Though India remains free from avian flu, the processing capacity in the country is not enough to capitalize on increased export demand,” said Soundararajan.
In the case of Supreme Suguna, “we were only able to raise the processing capacity by a small quantity to 35,000 chicken per day. We are in the midst of raising our processing capacity to 100,000 chickens per day to meet increased export demand in the Middle East,” he said.
“In three months our capacity will be enhanced to cater to the demand not just in Saudi Arabia but also in other Middle East countries,” said Soundararajan.
There is more demand for Indian products with the ban by many countries on poultry meat imports from Thailand and nine other Asian countries.
Unlike growing demand overseas, Soundararajan and his colleagues are worried about the low demand in India, where unlike in the West and other major global markets, the demand for processed poultry products is negligible.
Soudararajan is hopeful that this will change, paving the way for greater investment in the poultry processing industry.
Saudi Arabia also imports chicken from China, Brazil, Ireland, France and the US. The Saudi poultry market is worth SR500 million a year.
