The company, which has had activities in Spain since 1960, said it is aiming to streamline its animal nutrition production capabilities in that country by extending its plant in Mequinenza through the introduction of a high end production line.
The move, it said, will strengthen its position in the Spanish animal nutrition market as the expansion will enhance product quality, customer experience and improve logistics and distribution systems.
The extended facility is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2017.
Plant closure
Upon completion of that new line, the agribusiness giant said production at its Colmenar Viejo facility in Madrid will end and shift to the expanded facility, affecting around 40 people.
“The new positions created in Mequinenza will be made available to those affected, and Cargill will work closely with its employees and their representatives during the transition process,” said the Minneapolis based employer.
Spain remains a growing market and to meet the demand, producers are professionalizing and scaling up their operations, said Alberto Martínez, managing director for Cargill’s animal nutrition business in that country.
Cargill’s animal nutrition portfolio in Spain includes piglet feed brand, SCA, which has dedicated production in Mequinenza, and Nutral, a multispecies brand, whose product portfolio includes premix, starter feeds, milk replacers, additives and others nutrition specialties. That is currently produced at the Colmenar Viejo site.
Cargill supplies its Provimi range to feed millers and producers in Portugal with two feed plants in Ovar and in Alverca.
The US company’s Iberian business also includes one of the group's Technology Application Centers (TAC). That is located in the Spanish city, Prades, and it is focused on swine research.
Divestment of compound feed business
In 2009, Cargill sold its Iberian market based compound feed business to Nutreco. Those operations included facilities with a production volume of around 700,000 tons and annual sales of €240m.
Today, Nutreco’s compound feed business in Spain and Portugal is said to have a 13% market share of the open feed market.
Last November saw Dutch feed maker, De Heus, acquire the Iberian compound feed maker, Nuter.
A spokesperson for De Heus told us then the Spanish and Portuguese economies were experiencing a healthy recovery, and this was expected to result in a slight expansion of the feed market as well.