Hy-Line and Hebei Huayu Company of Hebei province have agreed to invest in increased commercial layer chick production capacity to boost sales of Hy-Line Brown and Hy-Line Sonia in China.

Hebei Huayu Co, with current sales exceeding 120 million chicks annually, plans to boost capacity to more than 200 million chicks/year before 2020.

It is building a new hatchery in Handan, Hebei province, with a total capacity of 55 million commercial layers per year.

Wang Lianzeng, chairman of Huayu Agricultural Science and Technology Co Ltd, said Huayu is the largest shareholder and will oversee the joint venture. Both parties will invest capital and Hy-Line will provide technical expertise.

He sees the joint venture as a win-win for both parties and beneficial for layer farmers in China. Furthermore, Huayu is undergoing a structural transformation to deliver high quality layers and services to customers.

Huayu’s long-term goal is to become an established, world-class animal husbandry and agriculture company that will last for centuries. To achieve such a lofty target, it will collaborate with alliances to develop its business quickly in the near term. Within the next 10 years, organizations, especially in technical competency.

“We are always open to new ideas and craving to learn new things,” said Mr Wang.

He predicts that local poultry varieties can co-exist with imports, and the project will not influence the long-term pattern of China’s layer industry.

Dirk Wesjohann, EW Group’s managing director, said both parties are committed to the necessary investment to create a market leading company in layer distribution in China. The joint venture will support the industry by improving production efficiency and uplifting food safety to the next level.

The main strategic reasons for the partnership are the sheer size of the Chinese market, which is now the world’s largest.

It is important for Hy-Line International to be closer to local egg producers in order to optimize the genetic potential of the products and provide technical support to meet customers’ needs.

Technical support is more important than ever before because the industry is undergoing major changes due to the soaring scale of operations and the fast pace of business development. Customers are demanding superior chick quality and top notch biosecurity, he added.

“Thus, it is paramount to invest in DOC distribution operations that can respond to these demands,” said Mr Wesjohann.

Hy-Line will provide technical support for the area of hatchery production, chick quality, health and biosecurity management.

Jonathan Cade, president of Hy-Line International, said it is the responsibility of Hy-Line to continue to deliver the best layer genetics and commercial layers for customers. Hy-Line products are recognized for their efficiency in producing eggs and livability, he added, noting wants to become one of the world’s top that they are top performers in all production systems around the world with superior egg quality.

Dark brown eggs, good shell strength and long shelf life together with prolificacy and persistency are the key strengths of Hy-Line brown. Those characteristics have made Hy-Line Brown the leading brand in China, he said.

Huayu also offers Hy-Line Sonia, a tint-egg type bird, to the Chinese market. This bird is present in select markets worldwide, particularly Japan, that prefer cream-colored tinted eggs. This type of egg is very popular in regions of China, he added. The Sonia is a very efficient egg layer with excellent livability and egg quality.

Hy-Line recently opened a new pedigree stock research facility in Iowa to investigate new ways to extend the production cycle to over 90 weeks to meet customer demand for producing more eggs per cycle.

The geneticists have booked continuous improvements, such as stronger shelled eggs, all-around egg quality and less rejections for cracked and broken eggs.

Due to the lingering threat of avian influenza, Hy-Line has diversified its breeder flocks at various locations. Sources in the UK, multiple sites in Europe and Brazil are now available to serve Southeast Asia as the company continuously hones its biosecurity practices.

“We keep improving. We have a culture of continuous improvement in everything we do everyday, to make sure we do the right thing the first time,” said Mr Cade.

Antonio Paraguassu, global production director, said Hy-Line pays meticulous attention to detail in the selection process.

The pedigree farm and hatchery is designed so that each individual bird and egg is fully traceable.

“Performance measurement is done bird by bird. We know exactly the parentage of that individual for many generations. We compare all the birds against themselves, amongst themselves and one against the other to make sure that we select the best birds to bring the best next generation to our customers in China,” he said.

Hy-Line’s research farm has adopted the latest animal welfare practices, for example, allowing the birds to mate naturally on the floor. It also implements stringent bio-security and complies with USDA compartmentalization requirements.

“Biosecurity and compartmentalization are parts of our quality program,” said Dr Paraguassu.

Huayu has commissioned a respected international software developer to create new software for managing quality control and benchmarking to improve business competitiveness.

Hy-Line has a 60% share of the layer market in China that is estimated to have more than 700 million layers, producing more than 24 million tonnes of eggs/ year, or roughly four times larger than US production.

China is a predominantly brown egg market. Of the 1.36 billion to 1.5 billion layers, 75% produce brown eggs, 20% produce cream or tinted eggs, and 5% white eggs.

Hy-Line currently serves 40% of the global layer market from its companyowned production facilities and independent franchise operations in more than 120 countries worldwide.