Sadia to have factory in the Emirates

Sadia to have factory in the Emirates

The
food sector company is going to invest 100 million Brazilian reais (US$
57 million) in the unit, which is going to process cattle and chicken
meat to supply the great demand in the region. The company exports to
the Middle East total US$ 550 million a year. The Arab market is so
important to Sadia that the organisation has exclusive advertising
campaigns for the region. This will be the second company plant abroad.

Press Release

Henrietta, the Sadia symbol in the Arab world

Henrietta, the Sadia symbol in the Arab world

From the Newsroom*

São Paulo – Sadia, a Brazilian food sector industry, is going to
build a factory in the United Arab Emirates in 2008. Investment should
total 100 million Brazilian reais (US$ 57 million) as informed the
chairman of the company’s board of directors, Walter Fontana Filho, in
an article published yesterday (31) in newspaper Valor Econômico. The
site for the plant has not yet been defined. The factory is going to
process beef and chicken to supply the great demand in the region.
Company exports to the Middle East total US$ 550 million a year. In the
first nine months of 2007 alone, of the total Sadia exports of 2.4
billion Brazilian reais (US$ 1.4 billion), 22% were to the Arab market.

“Due to exports, we already have operations in the Emirates (sale
and distribution), with 20 employees in Dubai. What is most important
is development of a local project. In future we may be able to develop
partnerships in the country. Acquisitions or leases are also not
discarded,” stated Fontana.

Sadia has been exporting to the Arabs since the 1970s. The company
was the Brazilian pioneer in product sales to the Middle East. The
organisation started exporting whole chickens to the Arabs and
introduced the consumption of chicken pieces in the region in the
1980s. “There they call us Sádia. We are ‘top of mind’ in chicken,” he
explained.

Halal slaughter, which follows Islamic rules, was an important
measure adopted by the company to win the market. The Middle East is so
important to Sadia that the brand has exclusive advertising campaigns
for the region. As is the case with Brazil, the advertisements are
starred by a character. Chicken Henrietta is very successful.

Abroad, apart from the Middle East, the company only has an
exclusive advertising campaign in Russia, where the first international
Sadia factory is being built. The company invested 92 million reais
(US$ 53 million) in the construction in partnership with a local
company, Miratorg. The unit is going to start operating in January 2008
and is going to industrialise chicken and pork.

Fontana also stated that the Sadia industrialisation process is not
going to stop with the factory in the Emirates. In 2009, another plant
abroad should start being built, with investment of 100 million (US$ 57
million). According to him, the new projects are in line with the
company growth strategy.

In the first nine months of 2007, the company posted gross revenues
of 6.9 billion reais (US$ 4 billion), with net revenues of 6.1 billion
reais (US$ 3.5 billion), a performance 25% greater than in the same
period last year. The company’s net profit reached 156.4%, totalling R$
394 million. In terms of volume, sales registered growth of 11.8% and
reached 1.55 million tonnes. Sadia currently employs around 49,000
people and, through its Agricultural Sponsoring Program, has
partnerships with around 10,000 poultry and pork raising farms.

Since 1944

Sadia was established in 1944 and is headquartered in Santa Catarina
(S Brazil). Apart from chicken, the company also produces food made
from pork, cattle and turkey, and also makes pasta and margarine. The
company is a national leader in the sectors it operates in and is among
the main Latin American producers of foods. The enterprise exports
around 250 products to 92 countries.

Sadia has a total of 13 industrial units, two cattle farms and
distribution centres in seven Brazilian states. Abroad, they have trade
offices in 11 countries, like Panama, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina,
Germany, England, Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, China and
Japan.

Most of the Sadia units are located in southern Brazil. Five
industrial units are located in the state of Paraná, in the cities of
Ponta Grossa, Dois Vizinhos, Paranaguá, Toledo and Francisco Beltrão.
Santa Catarina has two units, one in Chapecó and another in Concórdia.
In Rio Grande do Sul, the company also has a unit in the city of Três
Passos. Sadia also has units in Minas Gerais (SE), in the city of
Uberlândia, in Rio de Janeiro (SE), in the city of Duque de Caxias, in
Mato Grosso (MW), in Várzea Grande and Lucas do Rio Verde; and also in
the Federal District, where Brazilian capital Brasília is located.