UAE’s Agthia Group to see poultry feed capacity grow by 13%
The work at its Mina Zayed Port site is now in the final stages, it said, and is set to be completed by the end of next month.
The extension will see its current poultry feed capacity grow by 13%, said the Abu Dhabi food and beverage, milling and feed player.
Last year Agthia told us that growth in the domestic poultry industry was being helped by the UAE Government’s strategy of increasing self-reliance and decreasing imports.
The Abu Dhabi based company produces over 50 types of animal feed products targeting the poultry and ruminant sector.
Jump in feed and flour division's profits
Meanwhile, its first quarter 2015 results on Monday revealed its agribusiness division had a 12% hike in net profits to AED 65.9 million ($17.94M).
Net sales for that flour and animal feed unit rose 6% to AED 276m, with Agthia reporting the division maintained its leadership position and grew its customer base in both feed and flour categories.
Iqbal Hamzah, Agthia’s CEO, today told FeedNavigator its development plan for the feed business consists of further enhancing the quality of its nutritional programs for poultry but also for other livestock, keeping all life stages in mind, to ensure its farmer customers improve productivity and food safety.
“In addition, we will widen the availability of our feed products by expanding our network of points of sale across the UAE,” he said.
Last February saw the group rebrand its animal feed portfolio under the Agrivita brand. They were previously sold as Grand Mills Animal Feed.
It said the move was part of an aggressive strategy of consolidation in the local and regional animal feed market, in parallel with its efforts to engage with farmers on product development as well as on nutrition awareness.
Last year Hamzah told this publication that the group also generates significant cost efficiencies through its feed and food inputs risk management team:
“Agthia has a commodity risk committee which meets once a month where we review market intelligence. This includes evaluating global weather, harvests and investment fund trends. Based on these findings we take decisions how much to buy, when, and from where.”
Meanwhile, the Agthia Group reported that net profit for the entire business in Q1 2015 increased 22% from the same period in 2014 to AED 59.2m, driven by higher sales, improved margins and controlled overheads.
