Brazil’s Sadia frozen foods to ship through Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi

Brazil's biggest food processing company is expanding in Abu Dhabi.

Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad) has signed a land-use agreement with Brasil Foods, producers of Sadia frozen foods.

The Dh533 million investment comes as the UAE and Brazil build stronger trade links. Etihad Airways and Emirates Airline have added direct routes to major Brazilian cities and National Bank of Abu Dhabi this year opened an office in Sao Paulo.

Brasil Foods is the latest company set to benefit from these ties. It has invested in a land plot of 16,100 square metres in the food manufacturing cluster of the free zone, which will be used to produce 80,000 tonnes of a range of food products that include meat, marinated processed foods and bread-based foods.

The site is scheduled to be fully operational by next year.

“We are pleased to welcome South America’s largest food processing company and the largest poultry exporter in the world to Kizad,” said Khaled Salmeen, the chief executive and managing director at Kizad. “Through Kizad’s food manufacturing cluster we aim to support Abu Dhabi’s Economic Vision 2030 by increasing food production within the emirate through reducing dependence on imports.”

Based in Sao Paulo, Brasil Foods is expected to benefit from Kizad’s transport infrastructure and connections with Khalifa Port (which lies offshore from Kizad) to export its produce across the region and to tap new markets.

The company has a foothold in the region through its Sadia brand. Shipments to the Middle East account for 32 per cent of Brasil Foods’ total exports.

“Our strategic agreement with Kizad will facilitate the access to global markets faster and more efficiently, giving us competitive advantage and enhancing our brand penetration, distribution and sales,” said Patricio Rohner, the general director at BRF Middle East, Brasil Foods. “Setting up in Kizad will also allow Brasil Foods to produce local goods and processed foods customised to fit the local and regional demand and expanding our food portfolio.”

Kizad is working with Khalifa Port, the region’s only semi-automated port, to diversify Abu Dhabi’s economy. Together, the two entities are expected to generate 15 per cent of the emirate’s non-oil GDP by 2030.

Khalifa Port is working on expanding its international network by adding three shipping lines to Northern Europe and Africa.

thamid@thenational.ae