The company is located in Nonsan City, Chungnam-do, South Korea and is a newly formed entity made up of several parent stock companies in Korea.

Indian River was chosen as the breed of choice due to their understanding and awareness of the initial customer and other farmer’s success with the parents and broiler products. Indian River was introduced to the Korean market in 2009. The ensuing performance and success of the parent stock and broiler products together with the Aviagen technical support in the field has enabled customers to achieve the genetic potential of the product and demonstrate the commitment of the Indian River team to future growth.

Jae-Ho Chang and Bill Souther

The new company is planning to receive 30,000 Grandparents in the first year of operation, increasing to 40,000 by the end of the third year. Expansion plans to build GP and PS farms, along with a new hatchery in the eastern region of the country are underway to serve the market. The company will sell to the member companies in the group and other independent customers within Korea.

Fred Kao, Business Manager for Indian River in Asia, commented: "This is a huge step for Indian River and the team to show the Korean poultry industry that we are ready, along with our new distributor CJB, to make a success of Indian River. We will be competing for 25 per cent of the industry in a little over two years from the product's introduction in Korea and we look forward to consolidating this progress with our performance."

Bill Souther, VP Asia, added: "We warmly welcome Chong Jung Grandparent Company to the Aviagen family and to the responsibility for the Indian River brand in Korea. We appreciate their commitment as a partner and believe that together with their awareness of local conditions and our support of the product that we will grow and attract customers in Korea."

Jae-Ho Chang, CEO of CJB, commented: "We are looking forward to working with Indian River to support the demand of poultry products in Korea. We believe this is the right product for our rapidly growing domestic market. The brand has proven itself in Korean and other parts of Asia, particularly with the help of Indian River technical team, product seminars and the overall support offered to our PS customers. Together, we are confident we will make Indian River successful in years to come."