Tokyo, NFAPost: As part of efforts to expand wellness ecosystem creation, Japanese business conglomerate Mitsui & Co Ltd has acquired India’s leading broiler chicken producer Sneha Farms. After the investment, the company will become an associated company of Mitsui.
With the country’s GDP per capita reaching $2,400, chicken consumption is about to enter an expansionary phase. India has a sizeable non-vegetarian population and has achieved continuous economic growth and sustained development.
Sneha is a chicken supplier based in Hyderabad. Its integrated operations encompass feed manufacturing, broiler production, meat processing and packing, transportation, and retail. It is one of India’s leading companies in terms of production volume.
Through its collaboration with Mitsui, Sneha also aims to expand its share in the Indian market and plans to double its production over the next five years. Furthermore, Sneha is aiming for full-scale entry into the market for high-added-value food products, such as frozen and chilled ready-to-eat meals.
Mitsui will continue to contribute to the stable supply of chicken and other sources of protein, for which demand is expected to grow.
Chicken has the best feed efficiency and smallest environmental footprint of any livestock product. It is subject to a few religious constraints, and demand is expected to grow worldwide. For many years, Mitsui has been building an integrated chicken production business, especially in the Japanese market, through its group companies, including its subsidiary Prifoods Co., Ltd.
Using knowledge accumulated through its activities in Japan, Mitsui is also expanding its overseas business. It invested in Zalar Holding S.A. (“Zalar Holding”), the biggest broiler business in Morocco and Senegal, in 2018, and invested in Wadi Poultry S.A.E., Egypt’s biggest broiler producer, in 2024.
Meanwhile in the marine products area, Mitsui is strengthening farming and processing of shrimp, which offer high protein and low fat with a short production cycle, just like chicken. In 2019, it invested in Vietnam’s Minh Phu Seafood Joint Stock Company, the world’s biggest shrimp producer and processor, and invested in Industrial Pesquera Santa Priscila, the world’s largest shrimp farming company, in 2024.
Mitsui has identified “Wellness Ecosystem Creation” as one of its key strategic initiatives in its Medium-term Management Plan 2026. By supplying healthy food, Mitsui endeavors to contribute to the quality improvement of today’s increasingly diverse consumer lifestyles.
Through this investment, Mitsui aims to expand the added value of its food and nutrition business cluster, enhance health and well-being through food, and thereby support the realization of richer and brighter lives for people.
