Feb. 2025: leader in duck genetics, accelerates its international expansion
Shaken by avian influenza, the specialist in duck breeding and hatching has carried out a major geographical and sectoral reorganisation, to better deal with future crises.
In France, the group holds 70% of the Mule duck market, which is used for duck breasts and foie gras. (Orvia)
By Emmanuel Guimard (Correspondent in Nantes) – Published on February 20, 2025, at 11:00 AM; Updated on February 21, 2025, at 9:46 AM
Orvia, the Nantes-based company, one of Europe’s leaders in duck genetics, is relaunching its business internationally. The goal is to capitalize on the reopening of Chinese borders in December 2024, which have been closed since 2019. As a result, it will be able to restock its local subsidiary with breeding stock (pedigrees), enabling them to benefit from the five years of progress in genetic selection achieved by their R&D centre, located close to Nantes.
The group is upstream of the duck production chain. It selects breeding stock (pedigrees, grandparent, and parent stock) for day-old ducklings, then sells them to breeders. In France, the group holds 70% of the Mule duck market, which is used for duck breast and foie gras, as well as 65% of the Muscovy duck market (which produces the filets that are so highly prized in gastronomy), and 50% of the Pekin duck market, which is used to produce meat for mass consumption.
Investments in Vietnam
The Orvia Group, with 658 employees and breeders, is currently aiming to gain ground in China against its major competitor, England’s Cherry Valley, which has its own breeding capacity in the country. At the same time, Orvia is making headway in Vietnam, where it has been established since November 2023. The group has already achieved a production of 5.8 million ducklings, and its objective is to increase this to 20 million in three years’ time, representing 20% of the national market. “This will require several million euros in investment ”, says Eric Houël, the managing director.
France is not being left behind. The Group has just completed a two-year, €20 million investment plan in France to protect itself against future avian influenza crises. ‘’ At the end of the first wave of avian influenza in 2022, we lost 90% of our Mule capacity and 70% of our Muscovy capacity,‘’ explains Eric Houël. Before that, in 2020, the group had already been affected by the Covid crisis and the closure of restaurants.
These investments have enabled us to reduce the density of farms, which were previously concentrated in the Pays de la Loire region. ‘ We closed 50 buildings in this region’, says Eric Houël. At the same time, the group has “spread out geographically”, opening 71 new livestock buildings outside areas at risk of epidemics. The most recent examples of this geographical diversification are the acquisition in 2024 of two hatcheries in the Landes region. At the same time, Orvia has made its sites biosecure and introduced widespread vaccination, which has now been authorised.
In parallel, Orvia sold its chicken business (gallus) – worth €40 million – to the BD France and LDC Amont groups in order to focus on duck production rather than investing in gallus breeding, which is largely dominated by Germany’s Aviagen. Consequently, the company ended 2024 with a turnover of 83 million euros, surpassing its 2021 figures at a comparable scope.
Translation: Orvia