How has the company changed since its venture in Asian subcontinent in 1997?
Kemin is an US based global ingredient manufacturing company ventured into Indian market by 1997 by investing USD>5 million in its Chennai plant and started its south Asian operation to provide quality feed ingredients on timely basis adopting local market requirements. Today, Kemin has grown to top 5 animal feed additive company in Indian subcontinent and moving towards No:1 position. Kemin has grown along with its customers over the years by serving path breaking inspired molecular solutions and unique value added services.
Could you please share the challenges that are being faced by Global livestock industry viz-a-viz South Asian industry?
Global livestock industry undergoing several challenges in terms of diseases, fluctuating ingredient prices, free rearing pressures on poultry, declining milk realization prices etc. Most of them are prevailing in Indian livestock industry with unique problems of wet market and highly fluctuating chicken prices. The producers are ready to produce antibiotic free, resistance free meat and milk products, but the consumers are yet not ready to pay the premium for the quality produce. The industry is evolving over the period and the market scenarios are changing, more environmentally controlled farms are started operating in India and processing is getting momentum with QSR, ready to eat markets developments.
India has a big chunk in the South Asian market and many multinationals are looking for their market share, what does make Kemin stand out of crowd?
Yes, it is correct. India is experiencing highest growth in Poultry, meat and egg, average growth is around 7% (where as global average is around 2 -3%). So, all the multinational companies started their operation in India and another advantage is on the non-regulated feed additive market. But Kemin always believe in quality and focus on better deliverables to our customers. There are enough opportunities available in the market for all to grow. The arrival of multinational companies has helped the industry to buy quality ingredients with assured values.
Variation and availability of feed raw material is an issue for the feed manufacturers. Can you share some tips with our readers about overcoming this challenge?
The industry has come a long way in terms of quality and it will continue to thrive for its profitability and survival. Feed manufacturers should move to quality assurance of their produce with high quality control in their input ingredients. Advanced test methods such as NIR, quick check of raw material quality and adulteration are available for the customers. Kemin is continuously working on training and equipping the testing facility at customer place. We strongly believe on the principle of mutual partnership and we take care of our customer’s business in all possible ways.
Antibiotic resistance is a buzzing term in the worldwide poultry market, what factors according to you would impact its market in years ahead?
As I pointed out earlier, quality always come with the cost and our poultry customers are ready to produce antibiotic (AB) free chicken if the market is ready to pay little premium for the same. The awareness has started with the public and few companies have started reducing the AB in their feed and following withdrawal period while using AB. Indian government also passed a regulation on usage of few AB in poultry and we can learn a lot from our neighbours – Bangladesh, Nepal and now Sri Lanka moving out of AB usage in poultry. If we can further narrow down the usage of AB and improve the quality, we can compete with the world market and export chicken to middle east and other countries and run a profitable poultry business.
The company has achieved its vision of touching half the people of the world every day with its products and services in less than 20 years. What’s next?
When our global president Dr Chris Nelson set this vision in 1997 and we are all surprised about touching half the population of the world with our products and services. But it has become a reality now and we have travelled a long journey with our customers and it is really amazing experience for all of us. We are working on our new vision and right now we will continue to carry our vision with the focus on improving the quality of life to the people and our customers.
Lastly, please share your long-term vision for Poultry, Dairy & Aqua farming in South Asia?
We are investing on expanding our production facility and R&D equipment to cater our customers better than yesterday. Our growth and journey will always continue with our customers and we will move each step forward by keeping “Customer First” in all our actions. Indian and other South Asian countries are growing very fast, their economies are improving and millennials are willing to pay for quality products. We will continue to grow at higher rate and provide quality protein to our population to completely eradicate mal nutrition in Indian and other South Asian countries.
