The expansion is planned at the Cargill Meats' Korat processing complex, and comprises a primary processing plant, an expansion of the existing hatchery and new breeder farms. A new feed mill with an annual poultry feed production capacity of 360,000 tons will also be built. The project is expected to take approximately two years to complete.

The additional investment for the planned expansion is THB3,300 million (about US$110 million). The expansion will increase Cargill's total annual production capacity of cooked poultry products in Thailand by approximately 24,000 metric tons, and create approximately 2,000 new jobs in the Korat area.

Prasit Maekwatana, president of Cargill Thailand, said: "We deeply appreciate the trust of our customers in our team and our products, which is fundamental to our business success. Cargill is one of Thailand's largest exporters of cooked poultry products, and we are proud to contribute to Thailand's economic growth through expanding our export of food products.

"Our focus is on providing safe, innovative, high quality products to our customers. We have a fully integrated supply chain to allow us to monitor our products at every stage of production. All the steps of the supply chain, from feed through to the export of our products are controlled within world class bio-security and food safety standards. We also have extensive research and development capabilities to assist our customers.

"I want to thank the Thailand Board of Investment for their cooperation and support of this expansion. We have received a great deal of support from the Thai government to allow us to continue to grow in Thailand," added Mr Maekwatana.

Cargill's two integrated poultry processing operations in Thailand are located in Saraburi and Korat and provide employment for about 9,500 people. The operations comprise breeder facilities, hatcheries, feed mills, pullet and grow-out farms, primary processing plants for raw meat preparation, further processing plants for cooking and a product development facility. The operations also include a poultry health centre as well as a quality control laboratory including an in-house microbiology testing laboratory.

Cargill Meats Thailand customers include quick service restaurants, food service companies, convenience store chains, food manufacturers as well as distributors and large retailers in Japan, Hong Kong, South East Asia, Australia, Europe and Canada.