Brazilian agricultural cooperative Cocari, based in the city of Mandaguari, Parana state, opened its first industrial-scale poultry facility in the same city on Monday, a BRL90 million (US$44.2 million) investment, the group announced last week.
The poultry unit, which encompasses 32,500 square meters and will support 1,000 direct jobs, was funded by BRL87 million (US$42.7 million) in loans from Brazil's National Development Bank, BNDES, and Brazil's Regional Development Bank of the Deep South, BRDE.
Cocari's expansion may generate some surprise from the market, if only because it follows another recent merger announcement of two mid-sized poultry processors in the same state.
In September, Parana state's secretary of agriculture said banks are working toward stimulating mergers and acquisitions in the poultry sector, which would help avoid bankruptcies of companies struggling under this year's pressure from grain prices.
The Cocari poultry plant will feature an initial housing capacity for 4.5 million birds from the cooperative's network of producers. That capacity should grow to 9 million in after a second expansion, though the cooperative did not offer a timeline for when that may be carried out.
The cooperative, which has 5,900 members overall, said the slaughter capacity of this facility will reach up to 12,000 birds per hour. The revenue of Cocari's new plant is projected to reach BRL95 million (US$46.7 million) when operating at full in its first phase, and BRL190 million (US$93.3 million) when through its yet to be defined second phase.
Source: Argentine Beef Packers S.A.
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