260 Billion Facility Investment Despite 1% Operating Profit Margin... "A Matter of Life and Death for Broiler Competitiveness"

Harim, Large-Scale Remodeling of Dokye Plant in Iksan, Jeonbuk

Harim's Jeonbuk Iksan factory remodeled with state-of-the-art facilities through a 260 billion KRW investment. (Photo by Harim)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] "The broiler industry has had an operating profit margin of less than 1% for over the past 10 years. Investing hundreds of billions of won with such profitability is also an effort to protect South Korea's broiler industry."

With Harim's recent completion of its Jeonbuk Iksan plant remodeled with state-of-the-art facilities through a 260 billion won investment, it has taken a step closer to the planned 312,497㎡ 'Harim Food Triangle' in the region. Harim plans to enhance the quality of chicken and defend self-sufficiency rates through animal welfare and air-chilling systems.

On the 13th, Park Gil-yeon, CEO of Harim, told reporters, "The biggest reason for making a large-scale investment despite not generating significant profits is to enhance the national competitiveness of the chicken industry," emphasizing, "The Iksan plant has established a system superior to anywhere else in the world."

The newly remodeled comprehensive chicken processing center in Iksan, which cost 260 billion won, is equipped with holding pens, slaughter lines, air-chilling rooms, meat processing plants, disinfection rooms, wastewater treatment facilities, and a large gallery. Together with the Harim Food Complex, scheduled for completion by the end of this year, and the Harim Foodpolis established in 2017, it positions itself as the "Food Hub of Northeast Asia."

In particular, to minimize stress on chickens, the old slaughter system?where chickens were thrown into chicken coop trucks and stunned with electric shocks?has been improved by adopting an animal welfare system that applies module and box movement and gas stunning systems. This system is applied from contracted farms, ensuring a minimum area and providing perches to create a better rearing environment. Especially, the gas stunning system is advantageous for bleeding compared to the existing electric shock method, which affects meat taste and freshness. Additionally, instead of water chilling, which cools by immersing in cold water, the air-chilling method passes cold air over conveyor belts to retain meat juices.

CEO Park stated, "Among domestic livestock products, broilers have the highest self-sufficiency rate," adding, "While cattle and pigs have dropped to 35% and 60% respectively, the reason broilers approach 80% (78.2% as of 2019) is because companies like Harim continuously invest to maintain industrial competitiveness." He emphasized, "In this process, we have increased farmers' income by 10 million won annually, reaching nearly 214 million won last year, continuing efforts for mutual growth."

In fact, Harim spent about 320 billion won on wages for employees, farmers, and partner companies out of its 800 billion won sales last year. Regarding this, Jeong Hoseok, Harim's Planning and Coordination Director (Executive Director), said, "We are making efforts to create employment and jobs," emphasizing, "As we have risen to the ranks of a large corporation, we will actively engage in mutual growth and community sharing activities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.