Cipendawa-Hubbard pact

JAKARTA (JP): PT Cipendawa Farm Enterprise, a chicken breeding company, signed an agreement with Hubbard Farms Inc. of the United States yesterday that will increase its chicken supply by 50 percent.

"With this agreement we hope to expand our market share from 20 percent to 30 percent of all broiler chicks (day-old chicks) sold in Indonesia," Cipendawa's president, Soekaryo, said after signing the agreement with Hubbard's marketing director James A. Ranson.

Cipendawa, which is listed on both the Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges, has a production capacity of 1.1 million chickens per year, of which some 400,000 are raised to produce day-old chicks. Cipendawa is also to receive technological assistance from the American company.

Soekaryo said that to anticipate freer trade in 2003, chicken breeders will need to manage upstream and downstream industries, from chicken breeding and feed mills to commercial farms involving small farmers, cooperatives and slaughterhouses.

Cipendawa was established by businessman Probosutedjo 26 years ago. (13)