Aviagen EPI and Belgabroed, a major Ross® 308 and Rowan Range® customer based in Belgium, visited Aviagen Latin America to explore Brazil’s growing poultry market.

The experience enabled delegates to understand the industry’s operational and market strengths. As Brazil is an as yet unexplored commercial focus for Aviagen EPI’s Belgian guests, the trip focused on information-sharing, best practices and production processes, while also providing an excellent opportunity for European delegates to network with their Brazilian counterparts. Client personnel on the trip were: Marc Destrooper, managing director and shareholder (who has since retired); Carl Destrooper, chief executive officer/shareholder; Jan Destrooper, managing director/shareholder; Dirk Moonen, managing director/shareholder; Achiel Vervaeke, hatchery specialist, and Steven Vervaeke, managing director/shareholder. They were accompanied by Patrick Claeys, Aviagen president Europe; Frederiek Claeys, Aviagen EPI project manager; Henk Steenblik, Aviagen EPI sales manager, and Kris Van Daele, Aviagen EPI regional technical manager.

A varied and information-filled trip

During their Brazil trip, the European delegation came to understand how Aviagen Latin America operates within the Brazilian broiler industry. The group enjoyed presentations from Ivan Lauandos, president of Aviagen Latin America; Marilia Rangel, executive secretary of the International Poultry Council (IPC) and Anselmo Micheletti, technical manager of Aviagen Latin America. The delegation visited broiler and PS farms, a slaughterhouse and a feed mill, thus gaining invaluable hands-on information about Brazilian broiler operations, and discussions with hatchery and technical managers were also very useful.

Strong links and excellent relationships

“Thanks to Marc Destrooper’s strong family company leadership, Belgabroed has enjoyed very close relatioships with its customers,” said Aviagen EPI’s Henk Steenblik. “Marc will be missed by BHV2 and by Aviagen, and we thank him for his leadership, vision and support. We will continue to build yet stronger links with Belgabroed and the BHV2 Group – and this recent Brazilian visit confirms the excellent relationship between BHV2 and Aviagen, now and for the future.”

Ivan Lauandos, president of Aviagen Latin America, recalls the success of the trip, especially in terms of sharing vital information: “We always enjoy receiving visiting groups,” he said, “and this visit was particularly successful, due to the delegates’ extensive poultry knowledge and their enthusiastic interest in Brazilian broiler operations.”

About Aviagen

Since 1923, Aviagen® has established itself as the world's leading poultry breeding company, developing pedigree lines for the production of commercial broiler chickens under the Arbor Acres®, Indian River®, and Ross® brand names. The Rowan Range® and Specialty Males® are specialty breeding stock from Aviagen that offer greater flexibility for customers to meet specific or niche market requirements. The company is based in Huntsville, Alabama, USA with a number of wholly-owned operations across the United Kingdom, Europe, Turkey, Latin America, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the US, and joint ventures in Asia. Aviagen employs more than 3,900 people and has a distribution network serving customers in more than 100 countries.
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