Business Update – Growth in the pig business
Growth on all fronts can be reported for many companies supporting the pig industry. If it is not by acquisition, then new divisions have been started or cooperations are initiated. Here’s an overview.
Land O’Lakes: Nutritional additives focus
Animal nutrition company Land O’Lakes has announced the launch of a nutritional additives focus within its animal nutrition business. Known as PMI Nutritional Additives, the business will work with all feed nutritionists, manufacturers, veterinarians and producers seeking to deliver value, efficacy and strong results through their livestock feed.
PMI Nutritional Additives is focused on products that optimise performance in animals in two key areas – nutrient utilisation and gut health and integrity. There are several nutritional additives available for swine.
Kemin acquires land for plant in Russia
Animal nutrition company Kemin Industries has formed a new subsidiary in Russia: Kemin Industries (Lipetsk) LLC. Kemin will operate in the Special Economic Zone of Lipetsk. This development is 15 km outside the town of Lipetsk and 438 km south east of Moscow. The company’s plan is to build a facility with manufacturing, administration offices, lunch room, quality lab security building and warehouses.
Construction of the new facility near Lipetsk is scheduled to begin in 2016 and be completed by spring 2017. Once construction is complete, Kemin will have the capacity to manufacture specialty feed ingredients including additional space to add new lines of manufacturing and different classes of solutions in the future.
Pancosma & Associates acquires Btech
Pancosma & Associates will acquire Btech, an important player in the Brazilian feed additives market. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Valinhos, São Paulo, Brazil, Btech specialises in the development, production and distribution of products and solutions for animal nutrition. This acquisition is a part of Pancosma & Associates’ strategy to gain direct access to the customers in the major countries representing the animal feed industry, such as Brazil.
The acquisition was finalised on 28th December 2015, signed in Sao Paulo by Hubert de Roquefeuil, Chairman of the Board of Pancosma, and Roberto Betancourt, CEO of Btech.
Acquisition of Masterfeeds completed
Alltech has acquired 100% of the outstanding shares of Masterfeeds, in a share purchase agreement with Ag Processing Inc (AGP). Masterfeeds, a leading commercial animal nutrition company in Canada, is now part of the Alltech family of companies, which includes 12 other companies that Alltech has acquired globally since 2011.
The addition of Masterfeeds to Alltech’s existing Canadian operations and other Canadian acquisition, EMF Nutrition, brings the companies’ total presence to approximately 700 Canadian employees. Together they operate 25 feed manufacturing and premix facilities, nine retail locations and seven distribution centres in a business spanning the entire country.
Anatara and Zoetis cooperate on Detach
Australia-based Anatara Lifesciences and Zoetis have agreed to cooperate on Anatara’s non-antibiotic, anti-infective product Detach. Zoetis will have exclusive rights to evaluate the potential applications of Detach for veterinary use in food production animals. Anatara has granted Zoetis an option to license Detach for development and commercialisation in markets worldwide while retaining rights to the Australian and New Zealand markets.
HKScan expands export footprint in Asia
Finnish meatpacker HKScan has celebrated the official opening of its Asian sales office with the launch of Omega-3 pork products in Hong Kong on 13 January 2016. The invitational event was attended by local partners, Finnish consular representatives in Hong Kong, government authorities and media representatives.
The product in HKScan’s Asian offering is its family of tasty, tender-textured Omega-3 pork products, which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. This family of products – henceforth to be marketed as Flodins Omega-3 pork – will first be sold through a selection of restaurants, after which it will become available via wholesalers and retailers. In the near future HKScan will be seeking further growth in China, Japan, Singapore, Korea and other Asian markets.
Affymetrix finding partner for European market
Affymetrix and United Kingdom-based Bio-Genesys Diagnostics have entered a partnership to offer commercial genotyping services. Under the terms of the agreement, the genetic testing services offered by Bio-Genesys Diagnostics for e.g. cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, and camelids will be run exclusively on Affymetrix’s technology.
The partnership leverages the broad range of reproductive and diagnostic solutions offered by Bio-Genesys Diagnostics to professional farming operations and veterinarians and the strong technical and customisation expertise from Affymetrix in developing custom genotyping arrays and panels in agrigenomics.
Simcro and Agri-Pro announce strategic alliance
New Zealand-based syringe manufacturer Simcro and Agri-Pro Enterprises have entered into an agreement to provide delivery devices to the animal health industry in the USA. Agri-Pro Enterprises is a source for veterinary products. The cooperation takes effect as from the beginning of 2016.
Simcro recently acquired ISL Animal Health and NJ Phillips. Agri-Pro is based in Iowa Falls, IA.
Nutreco completes Micronutrients acquisition
Nutreco completed the acquisition of Indianapolis, US-based Micronutrients which was announced in December 2015. Micronutrients is a manufacturer of hydroxy-based trace minerals, marketed under the brand name IntelliBond. The acquisition enables Trouw Nutrition, Nutreco’s animal nutrition business, to strengthen its Selko feed additives product portfolio.
Bruce Crutcher, who currently leads Trouw Nutrition USA, will take over the general management of Micronutrients in the second quarter of 2016.
Growth in straw-based pig housing
Straw-based buildings are gaining increasing favour among pig producers from all over the United Kingdom, according to Quality Equipment‘s constrution division. In 2015 it has constructed 14,000 new pig places and kitted-out a further 10,000, providing enough capacity to produce over 50,000 pigs a year. In addition, the company has carried out numerous conversions of cattle and poultry sheds to straw-based systems.
“Demand from supermarkets for pigs reared under outdoor and welfare-friendly systems, has driven this growth,” commented Aidan Hubbard, the company’s construction manager. “Pigs reared under these conditions can fetch a premium.” Typically, the steel-framed buildings supplied by QE measure 60 x 15 m and hold 1,000 pigs each.
DLG International establishes subsidiary in Russia
DLG International, organiser of international trade exhibitions like e.g. EuroTier, has established an independent subsidiary in Moscow, Russia, incorporated as DLG RUS OOO.
DLG is already organising various exhibitions in the CIS region. By opening the new office, the companies will strengthen their activities in Russia through this independent subsidiary.
DLG International now has eight international subsidiaries: DLG RUS OOO in Russia; DLG Italia; DLG Benelux in the Netherlands; DLG AgroFood in Poland; DLG Inter Marketing in Romania; DLG Fuarcilik in Turkey; and DLG AgroTechService in China, as well as IFWexpo in Heidelberg, Germany.
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