KUALA LUMPUR (March 11): FGV Holdings Bhd has expanded its animal feed and nutrition business by launching a new animal feed brand.

In a statement, the planter announced that its subsidiary FGV Integrated Farming Holdings Sdn Bhd has launched its animal feed brand, "ALMA".

FGV chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Haris Fadzilah Hassan noted that the group's domestic sales of palm kernel expeller (PKE) and animal feed products increased to 39,000 metric tonnes (MT) in 2020 from 8,000 MT in 2018, with a compound annual growth rate of 121%.

"For 2021, FGV is allocating 75,000 MT which is equivalent to 20% of our annual PKE production for the production of animal feed. We target to achieve 150,000 MT by the year 2024. Based on the ruminant statistics in Malaysia, the requirement of an animal feed concentrate is approximately 240,000 MT per year, in which FGV already supplied 17% of this requirement last year to meet the demand of our local farmers. We shall be able to contribute to approximately 60% of the local concentrate feed demand for ruminant by the year 2024," said Haris Fadzilah.

He noted that this new range of ALMA animal feed products is antibiotics-free and includes formulations for both beef and dairy cattle feed, goats and sheep feed, chicken and native chicken feed, natural mineral feed and additional feed for livestock. The CEO added that it has established its distributorship programme to ensure that the feed reaches local farmers effectively throughout Peninsular Malaysia and that it will increase the number of distributors it has this year.

Haris Fadzilah further added that this new brand of animal feed contains ingredients approved by the Food and Drug Administration such as grains, minerals and vitamins, and does not contain prohibited waste materials from animals such as blood, bones or internal organs.

"Internal sourcing of PKE is also very important for traceability, which is another key feature of our products," he added.

In conjunction with the launch, the planter and Department of Veterinary Services Malaysia have worked together to provide relief for local animal farmers impacted by the recent floods. 800 bags equivalent to 40 MT of the new animal deed were contributed in stages to 300 farmers from Feb 22 to March 7.

As it currently stands, FGV operates four kernel crushing plants located in Kuantan, Pahang; Pasir Gudang, Johor; Pandamaran, Selangor; and Lahad Datu, Sabah to produce the PKE.

Shares in FGV traded 1.52% or two sen lower at RM1.30, valuing it at RM4.74 billion at the time of writing. It saw 588,200 shares done.