Japfa Oberoi To Set Up Retail Chain

"The cream of the business exists in the retail marketing of broiler chicken and ready to eat and ready to cook products. We are keen to enter into the Indian market," a top Japfa official said.

When contacted, Bambang Setiawan, chief operating officer, Japfa Oberoi Agro, said, "We are planning the retail chain to push the sales of our own broiler chicken, grown through contract poultry farming. But exact date as to the start of the retailing is yet to be decided since the project is still at the planning stage."

The company sees tremendous potential in the retail chain, as, currently, a major part of the margin in poultry business is cornered by the traders.

 

"The idea is, firstly to forwardly integrate our business in India and then undertake backward integration," Setiawan said.

65 per cent of equity in Japfa Oberoi is held by Japfa Comfeed International Pte, Singapore, a part of the Indonesian Japfa group. EIH holds the remaining 35 per cent.

Japfa Oberoi has a poultry feed production facility at Supa, Pune, which has a capacity of 5,000 tonne per month. The company has an equity capital of Rs 16.60 crore. It has invested Rs 30 crore to set up the poultry feed producing unit at Supa.

The company is scheduled to launch its contract poultry farming in September. This will ensure a regular market for its poultry feed.

The company entred the Indian poultry feed market in August last year with "Comfeed". P K Dash, general manager, sales and marketing claims that the company enjoys a 35 per cent of the market in Maharashtra and some parts of Gujarat.

Its poultry feed is currently marketed in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat and will soon be introduced in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh and later to other parts of north and south India.

Currently, its Supa plant operates at 70 per cent capacity. Once it achieves full capacity, the company plans to set up a new line of products at a cost of Rs 12 crore.

The company also plans a chicken processing plant in India to supply broiler chicken to its retail chain regilarly.

The local arm will introduce a cattle feed targeting milk dairy farms. The Japfa group has interests in poultry industry, including day-old broiler and layer chicks and aquaculture. It is planning to introduce its wide range of poultry products in India in a phased manner.