Farmina expands distribution capabilities in Brazil
The Italian pet food producer is establishing Brazil as the hub of its Latin American expansion strategy.
Farmina Pet Foods recently inaugurated its first distribution center in São Paulo, Brazil, aiming to more than double the business in the region.
With an investment of R$45 million ($8.4M/€7.2M), the venue spans 10,500 m² and is situated adjacent to the company’s factory, facilitating logistics integration.
“With this investment, we will have the capacity to increase the current production volume by 150%,” Marcelo Hara, General Director for Farmina Latin America, tells GlobalPETS.
The facility features automated operations, and the warehouse is connected to the existing factory by a 16-meter-high underground tunnel.
“With the new structure, the food produced in São Paulo will be packaged according to the batch of each order and then sent to the warehouse where the trucks will be loaded,” Farmina’s CEO Angelo Russo stated during the inauguration a few weeks ago.
Farmina began its commercial activities in Bragança Paulista (90 km north of São Paulo), initially outsourcing its products, and in 2009, it opened the factory.
A key market
According to Hara, the company chose Brazil to be the center of its regional expansion plans due to “growth factors” in all Brazilian states and the opening of new businesses in Latin American countries.
This positive market situation led to an expansion of the company’s product portfolio in the region.
Currently, Farmina exports its goods from Brazil to 14 countries in Central and South America, which represents 30% of its sales volume. The new distribution center will serve almost the whole region, except Mexico, with its pet food brands for dogs and cats.
Industry associations Abinpet and the Instituto Pet Brasil (IPB) forecast that the Brazilian pet sector will reach R$78 billion ($13.3B/€12.3B) in revenue in 2025, a 3.5% year-on-year (YoY) increase.
Future expansion
GlobalPETS learned that the Italian pet food manufacturer plans to open a snacks and wet food factory in the coming years in Bragança Paulista in a bid to cope with the increased demand for premium pet food.
Earlier this year, Farmina scaled up its production in North America with a new $115 million (€98.4M) state-of-the-art dry food facility in Reidsville, North Carolina.
The site features a fully integrated on-site microbiological and analytical laboratory for real-time quality control, aiming to streamline production.