FBA Issue 34: September / Ocotber 2010

 

 

 

Belgium-based Nutrex has been steadily carving its presence in the global market of animal nutrition since 1995, anchoring its activities on tireless innovation and customer support.

 

The company was founded by Christ Clarys who started his activities by exporting premixes and concentrates. During that time,  Nutrex was a customer of Agrimex, a known supplier of feed additives in Western Europe. "Unfortunately, Clarys passed away in 1997. The company was then sold to Kuge Invest, a family owned holding company that also owns Agrimex. After the takeover and incorporation into the Kuge Invest group, it was then decided to put the initial focus of Nutrex on the export of feed additives, the core business of Agrimex," Kurt Van de Mierop, Sales & Marketing Manager, recalls.

 

So as the company grew and developed, its product portfolio and activities also evolved to meet the needs of export markets worldwide. De Mierop notes that "the integration with Agrimex added a substantial amount of nutritional and application knowledge to Nutrex activities, as well as an extensive product portfolio to start with. However, our experience in export was very limited and required a very different approach." Thus the company needed to further reach its customers worldwide by participating in fairs and set up a dedicated communication line with clients. This resulted in a very active network of distributors spanning over 30 countries today.

 

"Thanks to discipline, perseverance and a clear strategy of steady development from the ground up, rather than that of a rapid uncontrolled expansion in dealing with whatever setbacks and growing pains that came along the way. Today Nutrex thrives and is recognised as a serious and reliable business partner and supplier of high quality additives," de Meirop says.

 

One noticeable path that Nutrex is taking recently is towards producing specialty products rather than commodity items. De Meirop shares that from its foundation to now, Nutrex invested a considerable share of its profit in new product development and product application support. "We've also gradually moved our focus more and more towards specialty products and away from commodity products. It requires a lot of patience and discipline, not only from ourselves but also from our distributors. Specialty products are not only more difficult to develop, but especially more difficult to sell, as people are not familiar with the product concept and may be reluctant to take the risk of change. We shouldn't forget that not only our business is highly competitive, but also our customer's business is highly competitive. Time and time again, we have to earn their trust by offering products and support that provides them with added value that's worth taking the risk of making a change."

To fully understand the needs of the clients, "Our team of sales managers and nutritionists is constantly in close contact with our distributors around the world, who in turn are close to their customers and end users. This open communication with distributors and customers gives us a premium position to introduce new products and applications. Thanks to such close cooperation, we have become much appreciated for our general nutritional and application knowledge that goes beyond our own product portfolio," de Mierop says.

 

He adds that the company's close co-operation with universities and research institutes help ensure that Nutrex has the latest insight in new trends, new developments as well as emerging market needs.

 

In most countries, the company utilises an extensive network of local distributors that exclusively distribute Nutrex's products. "It's not always easy to find the right people at the right place and time, but we generally experience that once we've reached an understanding with a good local partner, this brings us several advantages. Having a local partner that knows the local market, how to approach it, that has an active customer base and that obviously speaks the language, helps us achieve a very good performance in terms of product registration, market entry and product acceptance," de Mierop points out.