November 26, 2013

Spain's Silos Cordoba makes 82% of its sales from foreign markets

Spanish company Silos Cordoba, one of the leading European companies in the design and manufacture of silos and bins, expects to close 2013 with a turnover of €46 million (US$62 million).

The company was established in 1975 in Cordoba to meet the storage needs of food and storage of the national livestock sector. Thirty eight years after it was founded by Juan Lopez Liétor, which still holds the property, the mainland market has become a side business for Silos Córdoba, since over 82% of its sales, which amounted to €46 million (US$62 million), occur outside Spain.

This internationalisation started in 1994 "has allowed us, along with constant innovation, dodge the crisis," says Juan Lopez Regalón, managing director and son of Lopez Liétor. This consistent growth has made them to move to a new facility that will be built in El Carpio, which will have 10,000 square meters for production and warehouse. The planned investment is €6 million (US$8 million) and will be operational in two years.

Although the company is known for Silos Córdoba, dedicated to the manufacture and installation of facilities for grain storage and conservation, it has three divisions: Matra, which is focused on conveying machinery; Gandaira (the oldest division), which manufactures and builds livestock facilities, and Quinta Metalica, dedicated to the supply and installation of metal structures and coatings.

The launch of a strategic plan in place for the next five years, which aims to "move from being a leader in metal silos", to become a reference in global, turnkey solutions for preserving and storing the grain", that is, the whole process since the grain arrives, it is cleaned, dried and stored, was also announced by Regalon.

This plan will be also based on innovation, another pillar of Silos Cordoba. In this regard, its managing director reveals that about 80% of their investments are going to this section, because they give great importance to the process and product innovation, which is crucial to be competitive. Currently the company sells eight out of 10 products outside of Spain, a high rate that has been placed as the sixth best-selling Cordovan company abroad. It is present in more than thirty countries and has offices in countries as diverse as Turkey, Argentina, Romania and Kazakhstan, as well as all around Europe.

Special growth is taking the Russian market, a country that this year will bring 15% of total turnover abroad, but has already set his sights on Africa, because of the 15 countries with higher growth in agricultural production, seven are from the African continent. "We're starting in Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria and South Africa," says Lopez Regalón, while he explains that others preferred markets are Malaysia and Thailand.

This same source recognises that export will allow them this year to maintain the same turnover in 2012. The company employs 102 people directly, a figure that mat increase until 115 when the new facilities in El Carpio come into operation.