CHINA MAY have countless exporters of countless goods but when it has only just three companies that export rabbit meat to the European Union.
One of the three is China Kangda, which was established in 1992 and listed on the Singapore Exchange in October 2006.
China Kangda is one of the three companies with internationally-recognised certifications required to export to the EU, such as CNAS, ISO9001, ISO14001 and HACCP.
To capitalise on its competitive edge, it wil double its production capacity of rabbit meat to 12,000 tonnes annually by next year.
That will entrench its current position as the leader among the three exporters.
Rabbit meat contribution |
9 months FY ‘07 | 12 months FY ‘06 |
| Revenue | 17% | 12% |
| Gross profit | 22% | 15% |
| Gross profit margin | 26% | 19% |
Four days ago (Feb 17), it announced the setting up of a plant in Non An county, Jilin province, to rear, breed and process rabbits for a total consideration of RMB31 million, which will be funded via internal resources.
In the European Union, rabbit meat is popular particularly in Italy, France, Malta and Cyprus.
The meat has low fat and cholesterol levels, high protein content and is especially rich in some vitamins and minerals. Its cholesterol and fat content is lower than that of poultry, turkey, beef or pork.
For the nine months ended 30 September 2007, China Kangda sold RMB82.5 million worth of rabbit meat, or 17% of the group’s revenue.
Rabbit meat fetches a higher gross margin than China Kangda’s overall margin (see table above), which explains why the group is stepping up its production of the meat.
Aside from rabbit meat, China Kangda is involved in the processing of a wide range of food types, including chicken, seafood and vegetables. It also produces soup ingredients and seasoning.
China Kangda’s CEO, Mr Gao Yanxu, said: ”We will focus on producing and selling more of the higher-margin products from the rabbit meat and processed food segments.
"These will be for domestic sales as well as for exporting to countries with stringent food quality and hygiene requirements such as the EU and Japan.”
| Annual production capacity (tonnes) | FY 07 | FY 08 | FY 09 |
Rabbit meat |
4,000 | 6,000 | 12,000 |
| Processed food | 28,820 | 40,700 | 52,700 |
| Chicken meat | 28,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 |
Sharp increases in production of higher-margin segments
(rabbit meat and processed food)
The Group currently distributes its wide range of products in 14 provinces and over 20 major cities in the PRC and exports to more than 20 countries including Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia and certain countries in the European Union.
China accounted for 59% of Kangda’s revenue in the first nine months of 2007. Among foreign importers, it is Japan which contributed the lion’s share, or 20%. The EU: 12%.
Among its customers are food processing companies which supply to major fast-food chains such as McDonald’s and major supermarkets such as Carrefour.
Besides selling products under its own brand names, China Kangda also is a contract manufacturer of processed food products for Japanese food corporations.
China Kangda will report its FY '07 results on Monday, Feb 25.
