Brazilian meat group BRF plans to speed up its expansion in south-east Asia and the Middle East through the opening of a new regional office to focus on growing in halal markets.

The new office will be located in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. “We see a big opportunity in Malaysia as a global platform for supplying Halal consumer markets around the globe,” explained Simon Cheng, BRF’s general director in Asia. BRF already operates four plants on the continent.

BRF said the new office will enable it to “compile relevant information more rapidly” and to “accelerate the mapping of new investment opportunities” in the region. “Given Malaysia’s sophisticated consumer base, we also plan to increase our knowledge of local consumption habits. The insights will be transformed into new products that can be sold in different Halal* markets around the world,” Cheng said.
 
BRF is expanding its presence in Asia and late last year the company announced the acquisition of Thailand-based Golden Foods Siam. Also last year, the company had four of its Brazilian plants authorised to export poultry to Malaysia.