Beirut (APD) - Cairo Poultry Company (CPC), Egypt's largest supplier of raw and processed meat, is investing LE 100 million into a new poultry slaughterhouse with capacity of processing 10,000 birds per hour.
"The butchery is currently under construction at the Noubaria area and is expected to be operational by January 2007," Magdy El-Sebaie, CEO of CPC, announced Wednesday in a press statement.
The processing plant will be 100% owned by the New Cairo Poultry Company (NCP), a subsidiary company in which CPC owns 94.2%, Sebaie added.
The plant's facilities will include warehousing space for around 2,000 tons of frozen meat, plus units for treatment and recycling of liquid and solid wastes.
"Operating for an average of 20 hours per day, the plant will be producing around 200,000 birds daily," Sebaie said, adding that the butchery could satisfy 10% of Egyptian market needs.
Many Egyptian households rely on poultry for their meat supply. However, sector analysts found that the country's consumers have a strong preference for live birds, slaughtered immediately at time of sale.
It is estimated that in the past 70% of chicken were marketed live and the remaining 30% was sold as processed or frozen products.
However, after the alarm over the avian influenza virus H5N1 began end of 2005, the government banned sale of live chicken.
The bird flu scare shook producers and led to dropping demand for poultry meat until recently. Latest reports from Egypt suggested that the fear of avian flu is subsiding and consumer demand for frozen and processed chicken is again on the rise. Officials said that safety measures nonetheless would remain in place.
Established in 1977, Cairo Poultry Company holds a leading position in the local poultry industry and exports to markets like UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Shares of CPC improved Wednesday by 3.87% to close at LE 11.53 per share. [TS]
By Mirna Sleiman, APD Staff Writer in Beirut
APD (Arab Press Digest) 2006
