Up in the pandemic
Arasco’s production consists of 85% whole chicken, 10% cut-up and 5% frozen. Only 8% of product goes to food service customers; 92% is retail. Besides supermarkets, the retail market includes many small mini markets, groceries and chicken shops on every corner in the cities, selling mostly whole chicken. Arasco’s logistics system is designed to supply them all. Naif Aladhyani talks about the consequences of Covid-19, “During the pandemic our business only went up. Saudi people stayed in their homes, but they didn’t save on food, which meant that our volumes and market increased hugely.” Albdulaziz Aldharrab adds, “The pandemic has caused our government to ask for more food security and self-sufficiency. In the long term this will benefit the industry.”
Every liter counts
Abdulaziz Aldharrab concludes, “We really focus on sustainability, CO2 emissions and water treatment. We’re even ahead of the regulations. We are in a region where water is scarce, therefore every liter counts. Our entire process, up to wastewater treatment, begun in 2004 with Marel, takes this fully into account. Farmers use purified water from our processing plant to irrigate palm trees.“
*AACE, Arabian Agriculture Consulting & Engineering, is Marel’s agent in Saudi Arabia.