Denmark-based aquafeed supplier BioMar Group has integrated the management of its two factories in Spain and France in a move to increase competitiveness and simplify the organisation.

Vice President of BioMar Continental Europe, Carlos Diaz, explains, "The move is a natural extension of the integration process we have done between the former Provimi Aqua factories and the original BioMar factories after the acquisition of Provimi Aqua in 2008.

"We expect that the joint management of the two factories will bring us further synergies both in terms of improved capacity utilisation and in terms of liberating resources for product development, which will make us even more competitive in a market, where consolidation is progressing also among our customers."

The organisation of BioMar West Med will be headed by Francois Loubère, until now Managing Director of BioMar France, while Enrique Alvarez, previously Managing Director of ProAqua and later BioMar Spain, will leave the BioMar Group. A joint management team for the two factories will be announced in the coming weeks.

"The current very high price levels on some of the key raw materials stress the importance of being able to adapt feed recipes quickly to the changing reality of the market," Diaz said, adding that the company needs a very lean organisation without compromising its customer services.

The West Med market area of BioMar comprises all Mediterranean countries from Croatia to the Atlantic including the countries in North Africa.