The Egyptian Cairo Poultry Company (CPC) is seeking a partnership in the Brazilian poultry sector, reports the Brazil-Arab news agency. The company director, Wissan Al Adany, and the CPC assistant, Haen Zayed, met with the president at the Brazilian Poultry Union (Ubabef), Francisco Turra, and the administrative director, José Perboyre, at the organisation, in São Paulo on 25 November.

"They showed interest in establishing partnerships with Brazilian companies and investing in the sector to complete their production and export to the African countries," said Mr Turra, who added that this partnership may be for production in Brazil and for the processing in Egypt, for example.

"Any attempt for closer ties with Brazil, to us, is always welcome. Our connection with the Arabs is very good," added the president.

Since 2006, with bird flu, the poultry industry in Egypt was greatly affected and a large part of the birds in the country had to be eliminated, which resulted in Egypt becoming an importer of chicken.

From January to October, Brazilian exports of chicken to Egypt totalled US$157 million, which resulted in growth of 166 per cent over the same period last year. Among the Arab countries, Egypt is the fourth main destination for sales of the Brazilian sector, after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Among the 10 main Arab importers of Brazilian chicken, Egypt was the country that presented the greatest growth in the period. Sector exports to the Arab countries totalled US$3.6 billion from January to October.

According to Mr Turra, representatives at CPC wanted to learn about the Brazilian poultry sector, as a model for production, and about agro-industries. To learn more about the sector, they saw a video. In recent years, production of chicken in the country rose from 5.5 million tonnes to 11 million tonnes in 2009, which consolidated the position of Brazil as the third main producer in the world, only after the United States and China.

Cairo Poultry Company was established in 1977 and has been adding companies spanning the entire spectrum of the food industry; companies that are market leaders in all stages of the poultry industry, operating a process including hatcheries, broilers, processing, and value-added products. The company also distributes and sells glucose, feed, and feed ingredients.