Brands that are covered by the BRF umbrella include Sadia, Perdix and Perdigão.
“We see a big opportunity in Malaysia as a global platform for supplying halal consumer markets around the globe,” commented Simon Cheng, BRF’s general director in Asia. The company already operates four plants on the continent.
BRF’s new office will give the company the facilities to compile relevant information more efficiently, and to boost the new investment opportunities in the area. “Given Malaysia’s sophisticated consumer base, we also plan to increase our knowledge of local consumption habits,” added Cheng.
Thai acquisition
“The insights will be transformed into new products that can be sold in different halal markets around the world.”
In the fourth quarter of 2015, BRF announced a series of acquisitions in line with its strategy to improve efficiency and dominance within local sales channels.
Within the continent, BRF has already acquired Golden Foods Siam (GFS) in Thailand – the third-largest exporter of chicken products, which has markets in the European Union, Japan and south-east Asia.
The company’s net operating revenue in Asia came in at R$3.2 billion for last year. BRF sold more than 460,000 tons of food products in the region for 2015. Additionally, four of BRF’s Brazilian plants gained authorisation to export poultry to Malaysia last year.