Barend Roberts

Supreme Poultry (Pty) Ltd

CBH's South African poultry operation, trading as Supreme, provides a complete range of fresh and frozen products which are distributed nationally, and employs over 3 300 people. The company is a fully integrated poultry operation with breeder facilities, hatcheries, broiler sites and processing plants. Operations are based in the Free State and North West provinces, supported by a diverse contract grower base. The company operates hatcheries in Bloemfontein and Mafikeng, and abattoirs in Bloemfontein, Mafikeng and Tigane. It slaugters between 1,2 million and 1,4 million birds per week, with a capacity to increase this to 1,8 million per week without any capex spend. Existing facilities are therefore adequate to meet near-term increases in demand for poultry. South African poultry production increased 7,6% over the past year, while imports are up by 7,4% over the same period. Supreme has captured an estimated 9 of the South African poultry market, and its sales volume growth over the last year surpassed that of the industry as a whole. While the combination of cheap imports (from a strong rand) and the generally depressed economic conditions have tended to erode margins over the last year, Supreme mitigated the effect of these external factors through its focus on internal efficiencies and better procurement.