Suguna Poultry to procure maize from Shimoga

Suguna Poultry Farms Limited (SPFL), a player in the broiler segment, has proposed to set up a state-wide trial centre for its direct maize procurement programme in Shimoga district of Karnataka by July-end this year.

"We plan to run it on a trial basis for six months and then implement the procurement system in full swing in Theni, Udumalpet and Oddanchathiram near Palani in Tamil Nadu," B Soundararajan, managing director, SPFL, told Business Standard.

"The move is mainly to reduce the transportation costs incurred during the movement of goods in the domestic market and avoid delay. Besides, this would also be beneficial to the farmers," he added.

The company plans to enter into poultry hatcheries by launching its table eggs and other value-added products in 2007.

The company expects to invest around Rs 130 crore for capacity expansion of its feed mills from the present 7 lakh tonnes to 10 lakh tonnes. It would also invest Rs 30 crore in establishing around 500 poultry hatcheries in various places across the country, he said.

The company plans to expand to Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab in June, this financial year. At present, it has more than 11,000 poultry farms and its operations are spread across eight states ""Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Orissa and Gujarat.

The company is also planning to scale up the production of live birds from the present 40 lakh birds a week.

To fund its expansion projects, SPFL plans to enter the capital market by the end of this year. "However, the contours are still under discussion," Soundararajan said.

On the export front, he said that the demand for dressed chicken was likely to go up with the government's proposal to ban the sale of live birds in the country. Countries such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan had already decided to import dressed chicken instead of live ones, he pointed out.

SPFL, which has Japanese orders to the tune of 125 tonnes with a price of $3,500 per tonne, expects to execute the orders in the next six months. "We see a huge opportunity in the European and Japanese markets in the next six months. Hence, we will increase our export volumes," he said. Currently, exports account for around 7""10 per cent of the company's total turnover.

SPFL registered a turnover of Rs 1,100 crore last financial year, with a 14 per cent share in the Rs 8,000 crore broiler market. It aims to clock a turnover of Rs 1,500 crore this financial year and have a 20 per cent market share in the Indian poultry industry.