July 5, 2006 

Trouw Nutrition establishes joint venture in India
 

An eFeedLink exclusive
 

Trouw Nutrition International, a Nutreco company, announced Jul 3 that it has established a joint venture with feed company Nutrikraft India for an undisclosed sum. Trouw has acquired majority shareholding of 51 percent in Nutrikraft India, reveals its marketing and communications officer Henrieke Pol.

With this joint venture, Trouw will now expand its activities in India, in which the animal nutrition market is growing well at more than 7 percent per annum on average, explains Juergen Steinemann, Nutreco's chief operating officer.

"There is a strong demand for quality feed products, technical know-how and customer services," he adds.

Pol shares further: "The market in India may be fragmented, but it is quickly developing in terms of technology and lifestyle. India is therefore an interesting market to be actively in; it offers many possibilities to grow our animal nutrition business."

Negotiations with the fast growing Bangalore-based company have been in the works since 2004. Boasting annual gross sales of EUR19 million, or US$22.5 million in complete feeds and protein concentrates, one of the company's bestselling product is a complete feed for broilers under the brand name "Hendrix".

Ultimately, what convinced Trouw to work with Nutrikraft is its "professional management approach and a challenging business development plan," Pol explains.

Says Steinemann in a Trouw press release: "We have partnered with the right entrepreneurial player to further grow our joint business in India."

Adding that Nutrikraft was "happy to enter into the joint venture", managing director Lenka shares that the company can look forward to furthering its dominant player status in India, through combining world-class technology and local market know-how.

Thanks to this newly established joint venture, an increase in staff in Nutrikraft is also most likely seen, Pol reveals.