Golden Fresh Sdn Bhd, which produces processed frozen seafood for export under the Pacific West brand, is counting on the Olympics to increase its business in Britain, where it has a marketing and sales office.
CAB Cakaran Bhd, a broiler meat and processed frozen food manufacturer, expects the group to return to the black in the second half of this year as poultry prices improve and the oversupply of broiler meat situation eases.
Golden Fresh senior commercial manager Rosy Ng said the company has developed a new range of value-added products for the Olympics. Pre-Olympic sales this year have been flat, owing to the economic crisis, but things are looking up now.
"These new products include petite sole fillets in crispy tempura batter and hand-cut hoki strips in tempura dip," she said. "The raw materials are sourced from fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, which would help to boost sales in Britain and Australia. We expect sales to increase by double-digit compared to last year. The expectation is for Europe to help generate about one-fifth of the company's revenue this year."
The stable prices of raw materials will also lead to cost efficiency. The result of this would be competitively-priced products. Due to the softer European market, prices of seafood such as coldwater headless and gutted fish is US$3 to US$4 per kg, depending on the grade. Pricing has maintained at this level for the past 12 months, despite dwindling worldwide seafood supply.
Moving ahead, Golden Fresh plans to invest about $5 milllion in Myanmar on a seafood processing plant, Ng said. "The rationale is to tap into a wider range of seafood available in the Andaman for export to Europe and other destinations. We are now waiting for the foreign direct investment guidelines in Myanmar to be released. China has made enquiries for our products and this represents another potential export market for us," Ng added. Up to now, Golden Fresh sourced its seafood mainly from the
pristine South Atlantic.
CAB, which recorded losses for the first six months of the 2012 fiscal year ended March 31, expects poultry prices to improve due to better demand with the Hari Raya celebrations.
"The loss was due to lower average selling price of broilers and day-old-chicks which were significantly lower than their respective cost of production," said Chuah Ah Be, managing director. "This scenario is a reflection of the severe imbalance between demand and supplyof broilers and day-old-chicks in the local poultry industry.
"The industry-wide losses had led to a constriction of supply, leading to improvement in the prices of broilers and day-old-chicks. The value-added food products manufacturing and trading division also recorded a slight decrease in revenue of 2.4% due to the competitive pricing environment which had a negative impact on margins," Chuah said.
CAB has invested RM 3 million for a new production line at its manufacturing plant in Kuala Lumpur to produce new range of higher value-added products such as cold cut products, fish and chips, fish nuggets, and fish fillets for the United States, Australia, and Middle-East markets, which generated about a fifth of the group's revenue.
"The higher value-added products will help to improve the overall margin and with better cost control," Chuah added.
