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Why the Middle East favors four-week broiler cycles and how they are achieved.
49 Plays6 hours ago
Wael Abdelrahman, DVM, Ph.D., MBA, head of marketing with Utrix, and Mark Clements, editor-in-chief, poultry, with WATT Global Media, discuss the how the Middle East’s preferred younger birds are successfully reared.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Future of Poultry podcast series.
00:00:12
Speaker
I'm Mark Clements, Editor-in-Chief Poultry with WhatGlobalMedia. Today, we're looking at the four-week broiler cycles that are common in the Middle East. And to do that, I'm joined by Dr. Wael Abdel-Rahman, Head of Marketing with Utrex, a feed solutions company based in Lebanon.
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome, Wael. Thank you for joining us on the podcast today. hi Mark. Thanks for having me.
Overview of Utrex and Its Role
00:00:35
Speaker
Wael, tell us firstly about Utrex and your involvement with the company.
00:00:39
Speaker
So thanks again, Mark, for having me in this broadcast. It's a great pleasure to be here with you. It's a really good honor. Utrex is a premier producer of Premix's concentrates and feed additives and specialties. It has a state-of-art manufacturing facility in Lebanon, and it is a GMP Plus certified feed additive producer, which basically is the first one in the Middle East and North Africa.
Understanding Four-Week Broiler Cycles
00:01:06
Speaker
Currently, I work for them as a head of marketing, and global marketing, trying to understand how their solutions can fit and serve better our customers in the Middle East.
00:01:17
Speaker
So Utrex is active in the the Middle East where four-week cycles are common. What's behind these cycles? Is it working within the constraints of local supply or is it a response to consumer preference? And which are the countries that use these four-week or apply these four-week cycles? It is actually, it is that demand led. So I would say it's a market pull rather than a producer pushed.
00:01:43
Speaker
Their preference typically due to cultures and consumer preference is a small bird, which is about 1.5 kilogram, 1.3 to life weight, which takes about gives us about 900 grams or one kilogram on the shelf.
00:02:01
Speaker
There's many factors involved in that beyond the the market demand. For example, the efficiency. If you look at how many cycles those houses can produce in one year. It's about 9 to 10 flocks per year versus a typical seven or six cycles in a 42 days birth cycle in a year.
00:02:23
Speaker
So basically, producers and investors, you get better return on their investment in a shorter cycle than a longer cycle.
Vision 2030 and Self-Sufficiency Goals
00:02:31
Speaker
There's another factor here as well, specifically driven by Saudi Arabia.
00:02:36
Speaker
where the vision 2030 vision, I'm sure you heard about it, where they're trying to reach self-sufficiency, which one of the many challenges in the region, most of the of the animal producer protein is imported.
00:02:49
Speaker
So, the for example, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is very concerned about the self-sufficiency and they drive the volume. Apart from those three factors, I would say also what drives that short production cycle is the heat, as you are familiar with how hot the Middle East can get in
Challenges in Broiler Production
00:03:08
Speaker
summer. At the moment, the temperature reaches about 50 or 55 degrees.
00:03:13
Speaker
So the heat is a real challenge here. And also that the high disease challenge, specifically even influenza and Newcastle. I would like also to add what makes that short cycle to use or to produce more flux in those houses is building new houses are very expensive. As you can imagine, you cannot have open houses or naturally ventilated houses in the Middle East. So everything has to be fully climate controlled and automated.
00:03:44
Speaker
So those houses are expensive, so they want to have better, would say, is better and better better use of those houses or better use of those highly costly houses.
00:03:55
Speaker
If we turn to feed, and for any producer that makes up the majority of the costs, Beyond the obvious, how does a 28-day bird cycle lower feed costs? And perhaps you could also tell us about the challenges here, for example, getting nutrition just right in the first days of a bird's life. Yes, indeed. As you know, 70% of the production cost is feed. So the feed conversion, actually, you find it is best when the bird is young. So at 28 days cycle, you harvest while the lifetime FCR is still near its best. The older the birds, less efficient or the less, I would say, the FCR kind of shifts away a little bit from its target. So it is more efficient at that age.
00:04:42
Speaker
There's also important to know that the short production cycle is very unforgiving. So because you don't have week five or six or seven to bail you out, so the first 24 hours or first 48 hours are very important.
00:04:56
Speaker
And if you look at the immature gut, immature immune system, and that's why you have to be very efficient in the first seven days.
Technological Innovations in Poultry Farming
00:05:06
Speaker
So reducing fee costs is a driver in these in in these shorter cycles, but there must also be savings that can be achieved in house cooling costs, for example.
00:05:17
Speaker
Absolutely. As you can imagine, most expensive, it's very expensive to cool houses in deserts, especially when the outside temperature is like 50 or 55 degrees. So the shorter the production cycles, the less energy is spent on cooling.
00:05:34
Speaker
So that's why some technologies like smart farm ecosystems or desert control, some specifically designed to help producer to produce efficient birds and in 28 days.
00:05:48
Speaker
And if we now turn to additives and looking, i mean, you need to keep the gut healthy, but how do you ensure that additives do not raise the cost of production too much? It's a very critical balance. And i would say also we have to take into consideration here the region is still use uses antibiotics, antibiotic growth promoters. There is more, I would say, more direction towards better use of antibiotics and more stewardship rather than an EU-style ban on antibiotic growth promoters. So the additives here is still effectively
00:06:25
Speaker
in a complementary way to antibiotics people are very cost sensitive as you would imagine but i would highly stress on the first week of age this is a very critical period get this right and then you will finish the 28th cycle on high I would say great emphasis should be on microbiome and giving probiotics and symbiotic solutions to those birds, especially they have immature gut system, immature immune system.
00:07:00
Speaker
And that's why you have to focus on developing that microbiome as fast as you can. So you mentioned that there are efforts to curb antibiotic use, but antibiotics are still used.
00:07:11
Speaker
what What schemes are being put in place? How is the market changing in terms of antibiotic use? the I would say the region is in transition. course, most of those activities are driven by the consumer demands, as we have seen before in the EU and in Europe and the Far East.
00:07:29
Speaker
You have also the big fast food chains. They demand that the the products or the meat produced should be free from antibiotics. and There's a little bit of awareness started to start to see a little bit of awareness in the producers, but I wouldn't say it is a complete ban yet. Some countries, I would think the most advanced one at the moment is Jordan, where you see some legislations coming in. Saudi Arabia to a certain extent, United Arab Emirates. So they kind of trying to impose more restrictions on antibiotics.
Water Quality and Immunity Management
00:08:02
Speaker
And what about water? Is water quality a concern in the region? Very much the water in the Gulf tends to be hard water, mostly alkaline. Add on top of that high humidity, high temperature. So the likelihood of having biofilm formation inside the water lines is very high. So water quality is one of the key things that should be addressed constantly and monitored, looking at what is the bacterial count in those and what is the biofilm situation. Because they can it's mostly ignored or taken for granted.
00:08:37
Speaker
But it's very it's an area where we should also focus besides feed additives. If we look more broadly at the health of birds, how do shorter cycles impact, for example, vaccination programs? Basically, the the short cycle compresses the whole immunity timeline.
00:08:55
Speaker
So you're working against the maternal antibody windows. so that's why you see more and more of companies looking into an oval vaccination process. hatchery vaccination, first day vaccination.
00:09:06
Speaker
So these are very important methods that to to avoid eating during a very, very short cycle. And it has a greater impact on bird sales and we have seen it in many occasions. What would be the stocking densities that are commonly used in the region? I would say the Sturken dynasty is not far from what we see globally.
00:09:25
Speaker
So we're looking at ranging between 30 to 35 kilograms per square meter, which is not far from the 38 to 40 or 42 we see in Europe. And I think when it comes to Sturken dynasty, one of the key things that people should be more aware of is ventilation. The ventilation efficiency, which normally many producers miscalculate.
00:09:47
Speaker
How much airspeed do I need in this house? Do I use minimum ventilation? And so on. So we see this because also ventilation in the Middle East is a bit tricky, a little bit, especially with the difference, high difference in temperatures. But the circundancy in general, as said, is not far from what we know in the rest of the world.
Saudi Arabia's Investment in Poultry Production
00:10:06
Speaker
Now, earlier you mentioned Saudi Arabia and its plan to be 90% self-sufficient in broiler production by, I think, 2030. How realistic do you think that really is?
00:10:17
Speaker
I think the momentum in Saudi Arabia is very real. They have came long way. At the moment, I believe they are between 70% or 72% self-sufficiency.
00:10:29
Speaker
They are about three or four years away from that target. They might not achieve 100% by 2030, but the growth momentum there is real, and the Saudi government is packing that massively and I recall they investing about 17 billion Saudi rials which is about 4 billion euros to push that industry into self-sufficiency. However, there are some challenges as you would imagine which is they import as a whole of the Middle East, they import feed and grains, they import breeding stocks, they have water quality, water availability is a constraint in the region.
00:11:06
Speaker
So it has some challenges, but has also some serious packing. and And I think one of the biggest breeding companies in the world, they are actually investing in GB houses in Saudi and in Turkey to kind of close that gap of the day-old check availability.
00:11:21
Speaker
So you mentioned the strong investment in housing. Are these modern, advanced, climate-controlled houses already having a significant impact on total production?
00:11:32
Speaker
Absolutely. You come across more and more modern houses, especially in the Gulf areas. and You see investments, some serious investments in those houses, fully environmentally controlled houses with with smart farm ecosystems, very intelligent controllers.
00:11:48
Speaker
And you need that, to be honest. And also the full automation reduces the reliance on labor. And if you reduce the the reliance on labor, there's less automation.
00:11:59
Speaker
margin for error. And then you see the house is fully automated, running very efficient. And I recall a a discussion between myself and one of my customers, and he said, at least when I use a fully controlled automated house,
00:12:13
Speaker
I can predict what my FCR and European efficiency production factor can be in summer. Before, I couldn't because everything was not climately controlled 100%, with reliance on labor, was more and more.
00:12:29
Speaker
We see a lot of technologies coming into the region. And I think this is, it can it can be a lesson or it can be an example to other parts of the world to look at how people in the Gulf or in the Middle East producing a 28-year-old with in a fifty degrees heat Thank you for sharing your insight with us. But before we close, I've just got two more questions for you and I'm going to wrap them into one. If you had to pick one aspect of production in the region that our listeners really ought to take note of, what would it be?
00:13:03
Speaker
And the other question I'd like to ask you is, what can we expect from Utrex in terms of in innovation and growth in the coming years to help the region's producers with the challenges that you've outlined for us today?
Future Growth and Regional Solutions
00:13:17
Speaker
Absolutely. If I give one takeaway from this discussion, I would say the focus should be on the first week of life because there is no time to catch up, even in ah in a longer cycle.
00:13:31
Speaker
So the first week of cycles, the broding getting the pruning temperature right, getting the early access to feed on water is key, water quality, and add on top of that proper climate control and ventilation.
00:13:45
Speaker
All of that come together and give you the FCR that you want. So this is, I would say, this is the area where we should focus on. As for Utrex, we are, the company is based in Lebanon.
00:13:58
Speaker
They understand very well the market needs. So we have a lot of tailor-made solutions specifically made for the region in a very high quality GMP plus quality. And that is something we we are proud of. And also we brought a special focus in innovation and how can we improve our solutions to serve our customers better in the next four or five years. Thank you very much for joining us today and telling us about production in the Middle East. I found it absolutely fascinating. Thank you. It's a pleasure. Thanks for having me, Mark. Listeners, thank you very much for joining us today. And don't forget to look out for future editions of the Future of Poultry podcast.
00:14:40
Speaker
Goodbye.