KFC commits to local chickens for Saudi stores

KFC has signed with local Saudi poultry farms to supply to its more than 200 stores in the Kingdom.

KFC parent company Yum! Brands will buy fresh chicken on-the-bone from Almarai’s poultry brand Alyoum, as well as Al-Watania Poultry, and Tammiah Food Group, it said in a statement on Sunday (Dec 9).

This is part of the quick service chain's ongoing collaboration with 19 local suppliers across Saudi Arabia but the company did not say if all of its chicken supply comes from local sources. 

Yum! Brands Managing Director Sabir Sami said this was part of the company’s efforts to “empower local farmers” and “support the Kingdom’s growth, job creation and economic diversification objectives”.

The Saudi government has set a strategic goal of domestic poultry production to meet at least 60% of local consumption by the end of 2020.

Self-sufficiency currently stands at around 50%.

The Kingdom’s production of chicken meat in 2019 is forecast at 730,000 metric tons and is projected to increase to 750,000 MT in 2020, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.

Chicken meat consumption in 2019 is estimated at 1.33 million MT and is expected to reach 1.38 million MT in 2020.

Chicken meat production in Saudi Arabia is concentrated in about ten vertically integrated companies, according to the USDA.

Three large companies, Al Watania, Fakieh, and Almarai, and 7 medium farms control more than 80% of production. 

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