Aurora Alimentos, the third largest poultry company in Brazil, plans to expand its chicken processing capacity by as much as 20% over the next two years.
Neivor Canton, the company’s CEO, told Reuters that the privately-held Aurora intends to invest BRL500 million (US$93 million) in 2021 to achieve that goal.
Aurora, which also produces pork products, processes about 6,000 metric tons of animal protein daily, Canton said. About a third of that volume is exported.
With the planned growth, Aurora hopes to boost its export sales to other markets such as China. The company also hopes to better compete with rival Brazilian companies JBS and BRF, which are respectively the largest and third largest poultry producers in the world.
Aurora's growth ambitions are being announced as the company has been facing rising feed costs, disruption of meat plants in Brazil by the COVID-19 pandemic and export bans imposed by China after outbreaks. The Aurora pork plant in Santa Catarina had previously had exports to China bans because of the Asian country’s concerns over COVID-19, but that ban was later lifted. Chinese officials also alleged that shipments of chicken wings from an Aurora plant were contaminated with the presence of the novel coronavirus.
Aurora, which is headquartered in São Cristóvão, uses 160,000 metric tons of corn to feed hogs and chickens each month.
The company also said it intends to maintain its current level of pork production, with hopes of continuing to export products as China and other countries struggle with African swine fever (ASF).
According to the WATTPoultry International Top Companies data, Aurora Alimentos slaughtered 242.6 million broilers in 2019. It ranks as the third largest poultry producer in Brazil, the fourth largest producer in South America, and the 39th largest in the world. As a feed producer, Aurora ranks 83rd globally.
