Suguna Foods rolls out Rs 100 cr feed mill in Maharashtra

Company currently claims a market share of around 15% and will continue to grow as per the market demands and needs in 2014

Suguna Foods Limited has commissioned a 0.5-million tonne (60 tonnes per hour) capacity upgraded pellet technology feed mill plant in Maharashtra. The company has invested around Rs 100 crore in the plant, which has two production lines and an option to enhance capacity to 0.75 million tonne (90 tph).

The feed mill, located at Khadakjamb near Nasik, will cater to the feed requirements for broiler, layers, parent bird farms and other livestock. The plant will procure maize (300,000 tonne), soya meal (150,000 tonne) among other agriculture commodities.

The plant would ensure smooth supply of poultry products in the region besides strengthening our commitment to the rural development as it would create good market for farmers, said Sundararajan GB, managing director, Suguna Foods Limited.

The company plans to spread to other geographies and newer regions and consolidate its presence. The Maharashtra pellet feed mill project is part of Suguna’s growth strategy to expand into the western region.

The plant process is fully automated. The finished product will be also handled automatically from bagging to loading.

Suguna has a 320,000-tonne capacity unit Tamil Nadu, 600,000 tonne capacity in Karnataka, 500,000 tonnes in Andhra Pradesh and 150,000 tonne capacity in Rajasthan among others.

It is estimated that the annual growth rate of the broiler industry is around 9 per cent per cent.

With an annual production of 3,000 million broilers, India is the fifth largest poultry meat producing country in the world. With rising income levels, the consumption of poultry products and eggs would continue to rise, the company said.

Suguna Foods claims a market share of around 15 per cent.

Feed generally is considered to be the major input for poultry production and accounts for 70 per cent of the total production cost. Since poultry feed is composed of several raw materials, the cost and supply of raw material, either produced locally or imported determines poultry prices.