The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Market for processed broiler products looking up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 13, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Market for processed broiler products looking up

By M. Soundariya Preetha

COIMBATORE, OCT. 12. For some broiler units in the district, one of the largest centres in the country, the focus now is on producing value-added items and capturing the market with processed products.

With nearly 25 integrated producers here, the total weekly production is 40 lakh birds and the main markets is Kerala, apart from Tamil Nadu.

B. Soundararajan, managing director of Suguna Poultry Farm Limited and former Chairman of the Broiler Co-ordination Committee, told The Hindu that though now just less than one per cent of his company's broiler production catered for the processed chicken market, it went in for a pilot broiler processing unit in 2000 with indigenous machinery.

In 2002, the company in association with a Saudi Arabia-based firm set up a joint venture plant with a capacity of 1,000 tonnes of processed chicken a month.

He said that since April this year, the company had been focussing on the domestic market for processed chicken and now its monthly sales was about 250 tonnes, up from 50-60 tonnes during the same period last year. "It is expected to touch 500 tonnes a month by the end of March next."

Mr. Soundararajan pointed out that though the main market was for live birds, it was picking up for processed chicken. The company was now installing freezers in 40-50 places every month.

Sausages

"It will shortly be launching sausages and marinated products too." These would be initially introduced in the Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets.

The Pioneer Poultry Group, another major integrated producer here, is also planning to launch its range of marinated broiler products soon, according to T. Gurumoorthy, project co-ordinator of Pioneer Golden Chicken.

The company has a pilot plant for processed chicken at Pongalur (started in 2002) and is selling nearly 15 tonnes only in Coimbatore now, he said.

Mr. Soundararajan said that by storing processed chicken in a cold chain, contamination was controlled and hygiene maintained. Further, in the live bird market, the sale price varied according to demand and supply. But, for processed items, the prices were fixed annually. Also the companies involved in production of these items were able to sell branded products.

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