engro plans to acquire food companies
Friday, January 29, 2010
SAHIWAL: Sahiwal, which has been popular for centuries due to its famous cattle breed, is now emerging as a hub of milk processing in the country.
The News has found that almost all leading milk processing companies are present in the district for milk collection and some of them have realised its potential as a centre for dairy processing.
Engro Food is no exception. Its state-of-the-art milk processing and ice cream manufacturing plants, opened in May 2004, are being upgraded to meet rising demand.
Engro Food CEO Sarfraz Rehman told The News the company was weighing several options to acquire food companies in the region. He said Engro had already achieved break even in 2009 and would hopefully earn a good profit in 2010.
He said the company was developing a Corporate Dairy Farm of international standards which would provide good quality milk to consumers.
“A sprawling livestock farm has been set up in Nara, Sindh with 2,300 high-yielding animals,” he said. The farm would be gradually developed in a way that it would become one of the biggest cattle farms in the world in the next few years, comprising similar clusters in interior Sindh as well as in south Punjab.
Sarfraz Rehman said Engro was aware of environment-related issues and was complying with all standards of quality and environmental protection and had PSQCA certification for all dairy products.
Besides, he said, the company ensured that effluent was properly treated in its waste water treatment plant as per environmental quality standards.
He said within food products, the company was diversifying its product line beyond dairy. “It is now venturing into rice processing by setting up a processing facility at Muridke”, the heart of the famous basmati producing zone in central Punjab, he said.
