Jamaica Broilers’ export sales boosted by No Antibiotics Programme Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

The No Antibiotics Ever (NAE) programme of the Jamaica Broilers Group (JBG) has contributed to the significant improvement in export sales, said President and CEO, Christopher Levy.

Levy disclosed to shareholders at Jamaica Broilers’ annual general meeting to discuss the company’s performance and future plans.

The NAE line of products, which was launched last May under the Best Dressed Chicken (BDC) brand, means no bird, from hatchery or birth, till slaughter is treated with antibiotics.

“One of the benefits that we have experienced is that it has opened up significant growth in our export market because…this is a very big calling card for us in these markets,” Levy said.

He continued: “We feel it is a very important aspect of our brand and the quality that we offer to our consumers”.

The JBG posted a 60 per cent increase in export sales year-over-year which is “quite a significant amount,” Levy said.

Revenues also improved significantly year-over-year with a 33 per cent lift, closing the year at $76 billion.

“Bear in mind last year was a COVID year, and we had the impact of the shutdowns and tourism was off. So, we are seeing some good rebound here, but I think we have also seen a tremendous impact because of some of our external operations,” Levy said.

Total assets were up $17 million to close at $60 billion. Profit before tax stood at $4 billion, a 27 per cent year-over-year increase, with after-tax profits of $3 billion.

Improvements in the performance of the Jamaican operations were buoyed by a new de-boning machine “that allowed us to get very good efficiencies and increase our volumes and pick up some nice margins,” the CEO said.

The BDC line saw a 34 per cent growth. New products also helped to gin up performance.

“Our individually quick frozen (IQF) products continue to do really well in the market. It has really been a good baseline product as we move into different segments, and we saw, with that investment, a real pick-up in the western region where we were able to pick up some new customers with these products and these investments”.

Other efficiencies came under the company’s focus on environment, safety and quality. The company now re-uses 25 per cent of the water at its BDC processing plant.

“We have really focused on water conservation…,” Levy said, adding that the company plans to further increase the amount of water it re-uses.

He continued: “We have tested out our 1MW LNG power plant, just to diversify. We are also looking at solar in some of our other facilities, and I do feel we are going to build out our LNG options for producing power for the Group in a broader way over the next couple of years…” he said.

The Hi-pro subsidiary also saw tremendous growth. Feeds sales increased by 27 per cent; chick sales up seven per cent, and pullet sales up 20 per cent with Supercentre sales up by 25 per cent.

“I do feel that it’s a good indication of a growth in the overall agricultural [sector] of Jamaica, which is very important for us,” Levy said, noting the need for food independence.

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