09/09/2008 14h37
Produquímica invests in the bovine market
Gazeta Mercantil - 09/09/2008
Looking for a market that grows and becomes "professional", Produquímica opens tomorrow a plant of mineral premixes (micronutrients used in food mixtures) in Suzano (SP), where it will produce 40 thousand tons per year - the current unit generates 15 thousand tons per year. The company invested R$ 10 million (US$ 6.13 million) in the construction in the new unit. "Our goal is to reach the bovineculture market", affirms Rodrigo Balieiro, manager of the Division of Animal Nutrition of the Petroquímica Group. Today, 70% of the company's production is directed to birds and swine and the rest for bovines. The goal with the expansion is that the company goes from 40% to 70% of the general market of premixes. Inside Produquímica, the division of animal nutrition represents sales of around R$ 70 million (US$ 43 million) per year. Balieiro explains that the new plant will have a system of traceability, which will allow the cold-storage house that buys its products to have full knowledge of the origin of the animal's feed. From the new unit on, Produquímica will no longer be only the supplier of the raw material for industries of mineral-salt, for example, but it will sell the already mixed product. The idea, according to the manager, is to have clients in bovine culture similar to those in the poultry and swine markets - which are the own integrating companies. According to Balieiro, Produquímica will be the first company of the sector to deliver ready-to-use feed, aiming to the big names of the sector - both livestock companies and industries. Balieiro explains that a cattle raiser considered a big one, for example, having a herd of about 10 thousand animals, would use the equivalent of 300 tons of mineralized supplement, which would be "small" for Produquímica, thus the focus on companies. Produquímica's goal is to supply to those that export, whose markets demand total traceability. It projects entering the international market in 2009.
