World meat industry news

Cobb Germany, a distributor for Cobb-Vantress, has acquired a substantial stake in a fellow Cobb grandparent distributor Broiler Budeshego, one of the largest suppliers to the Russian poultry meat industry.

This significant shareholding has been bought from Samuel Lipman, one of the first US investors in the Russian poultry industry, and from Cobb-Vantress, Inc. which is one of the world’s leading poultry breeding companies.

One of Europe’s leading distributors of broiler breeding stock, Cobb Germany is part of the Wimex Group which is based in Regenstauf, Germany, and has expanded in the past 30 years to become a major producer of hatching eggs and broiler chicks for the European poultry industry. The company is the distributor of Cobb breeding stock in more than 20 countries of central and eastern Europe.

Broiler Budeshego (literally, in Russian, ‘Broiler of the Future’) began hatching Cobb parent stock chicks at a new facility at Stromyn, near Moscow, in 2014 and is now selling more than seven million chicks a year to the Russian industry which has been quickly expanding towards self-sufficiency in chicken production.

In a separate move Broiler Budeshego has signed an agreement with the Prioskolie group to take over its grandparent production facilities and supply it with Cobb parent stock. Prioskolie is the market leader for chicken meat in Russia with annual production of more than 600,000 tonnes.

Leo Graf von Drechsel, the director who is responsible for the poultry branch of Wimex, said they would become a strong partner in Broiler Budeshego with their market knowledge and technical expertise helping to increase production to satisfy the growing demands of the Russian industry.

He added: “Prioskolie sees the advantage of the world leading genetics of the Cobb breed and has therefore decided to go with Cobb. With these two important moves Broiler Budeshego has taken major steps forward in expanding its production base in Russia and growing its market share.”

Roy Mutimer, Cobb vice president for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions, commented: “It has been thrilling to watch the efforts of our Russian colleagues deliver such fantastic growth for Cobb in Russia in recent years. This is an extremely positive move for Cobb Russia and the team whose hard work has made a major contribution to the expansion of the business.

“Increasingly, the clear advantages that the Cobb product brings across all stages of production are being recognized by Russian integrators which is making Cobb the breed of choice. I am certain that Cobb Germany's greater involvement in the market, coupled with Prioskolie's move to Cobb, will further enhance our ability to support our Russian customers and continue to grow our market share in Russia.”

Mark Sams, general manager of Cobb Europe, added: “With the support of Cobb Germany, I’m confident that Broiler Budeshego will continue to thrive in the market and build on the exceptional growth and performance they have proudly achieved. Cobb Europe will continue to fully support the business as our distributor going forward.

“Personally, I would like to thank the entire Russian team for their dedication and commitment that has made the business such a success and helped Cobb to become a market leader in Russia.”

Cobb-Vantress, Inc. is a poultry research and development company engaged in the production improvement and sale of broiler breeding stock. Cobb is the world’s oldest pedigree broiler breeding company. Founded in 1916, Cobb has grown into one of the world’s leading suppliers of broiler breeding stock with distribution into over 120 countries. Cobb has contributed to the dynamic efficiency and growth of an industry that has transformed chicken into an economically affordable healthy protein source for many of the over seven billion people in the world.