Page 12 - Vol.38-No.8

MAREL

ARABIAN FARMS STRIVES TO BE THE ROLLS

ROYCE OF THE UAE POULTRY INDUSTRY

“QUALITY IS OUR NUMBER ONE FOCUS”

The United Arab Emirates has a popu-
lation of 9.4 million made up of almost
200 nationalities. Expats are the main
consumers of chicken products and are
willing to spend extra on quality food. With the increasing amount of cut-up
Arabian Farms has seized the oppor- products, we foresee chickens, currently
tunity by focusing on the top end of around 1,350 grams, getting bigger. This
the market. “Quality is our number one is financially attractive, because bigger
focus,” says Dr. Suheel Ahmed, CEO of cut-up parts simply make more money.” Water treatment
Arabian Farms Investment LLC. Marel also installed Arabian Farms’ ren-
Dr. Suheel continues about Arabian Farms’
distribution, “Our distribution network is dering and water treatment plant. First,
huge, catering to all channels. Today, 70- physical pretreatment already removes half
80% of our table eggs are distributed the pollution from the wastewater collect-
through major retail outlets. We plan to ed. Biological processes in several basins
do the same with our chicken business. We remove the rest until surface aeration in
intend to be strong in other channels too the last basin separates biological sludge
such as HoReCa and small grocers,” says. from purified water.
Dr. Suheel comments, “Al Ain is in the
The process desert and water is a precious commod-
Marel equipped the Arabian Farms plant ity. Still, we need quite some water to
in Al Ain with a 3,000 bph processing line run our plant. Our wastewater treatment
Dr. Suheel explains the company’s choice starting with the kill line, which includes plant means that we don’t have to discard
for Marel, “Arabian Farms wants to be scalder, plucker, head puller and feet cut- our used water. We have plans to irrigate
the Rolls Royce of poultry operators with ting. Next comes evisceration with a VOC our 800,000m2 of land, plant trees and
quality as our number one focus. To make for combined vent opening and opening cut convert it into a green zone, making our
ourselves different, we chose only top followed by a Nuova CoreTech automatic humble contribution to the environment.”
suppliers for our hatcheries, broiler sheds eviscerator. After semi-automated giblet
and processing plant. Marel was shortlisted harvesting, a NIC cropper and an additional
because of its strong name and its leading washer for cleaning and wetting finish the
position in the market. Our aim was to offer evisceration job.
local innovative chicken products that suit
our market. We needed the most efficient Products are chilled in a DownFlow+ air
machines producing top quality products. chilling tunnel, unique to the region. Ara-
That’s why we chose Marel equipment.” bian Farms’ management did quite some
investigation on yield loss during chilling
Implementation turned out very well. and came to the conclusion that this way About Arabian Farms
“From both sides, this was a very profes- of air chilling was the most effective and Arabian Farms is a Saudi-based com-
sionally managed project, well-planned and efficient for them. pany with two shareholders, Sedco
with no misunderstandings or delays. From A SmartLine Grader grades whole birds. Holding and Bugshan Investments.
the top to the operational level, all people Some 50 to 60% of the products go to Arabian Farms started in 1978 with an
did a terrific job. Everybody worked very the ACM-NT Compact line for cut-up. This egg-producing farm in the outskirts of
hard to meet requirements, completing the automated system cuts wings and whole Riyadh. In 1999 the company expanded
project in a remarkably short time even legs or separate thighs and drums. Front to the Emirates. The Dubai entity soon
with the pandemic in its last phase.”
halves go to a Marel cone line for fillet- became the flagship for the group, pro-
Market expectations ing. A TargetBatcher makes fixed-weight ducing 120 million eggs annually. With
a firm commitment to quality, service
In UAE, consumers are willing to pay more product batches. and product innovation, Arabian Farms
for quality food. Arabian Farms focuses on has built a very strong brand identity
this high-end market with its strategy of under the name SAHA.
changing people’s minds from frozen to
fresh. The company is convinced that fresh Although 60% of the eggs in UAE
locally produced chicken will eventually are produced locally, locally produced
replace most frozen products. Dr. Suheel chicken meat accounts for just 20%
explains, “The cut-up market has already of the market. The rest is imported
grown substantially to 50-60% in some mostly as frozen chicken. To grab this
outlets and this will continue. Consumers huge potential, Arabian Farms invested
are looking for more convenience. Few con- in the greenfield project in Al Ain to
sumers now want to cook a whole chicken produce 6,000 tons of SAHA chicken
or cut up a chicken themselves at home. meat per annum.

10 Vol. 38 No. 8 Circle 13 on enquiry card