Barentz International Establishes Joint Venture in Iran to Accelerate Growth
26 Jan 2016 --- Barentz International, following the recent acceleration of its business into high growth markets, has established a joint venture with Future Way Holding in Iran. This new distribution company will focus on distributing ingredients in in the Food & Nutrition, Pharmaceuticals and Animal Nutrition industries in Iran and the Middle East region.
Barentz, a leading international ingredients distributor, calls this acquisition in Iran a logical step in the strong expansion of Barentz outside Europe. With 80 million consumers in the country and 400 million in the surrounding export area, Iran is a highly interesting market for industrial ingredients. Fueled by the open attitude towards new food & personal care products of the large young Middle Eastern population, it is expected that the packaged goods market will show considerable volume growth over the next years.
Mr. Hidde van der Wal, CEO of Barentz International told FoodIngredientsFirst: “At Barentz, we consider Iran an interesting growth market. We expect a strong growth of business in general in Iran and the surrounding countries. Especially in the food and animal nutrition industries, with our experience we see it as an advantage to help the local industry to increase their production of high quality products, enabling them to export these products. It is no secret that for export you need to adhere to high quality standards to fulfill the requirements for export. With the high quality of our ingredients, we can help to improve the quality of products and meet the required quality standards.”
Hidde van der Wal adds: “This acquisition is a great first milestone in our continued expansion plan for 2016. We have a positive outlook on the development of the industrial ingredients market in Iran, and moving into that market with a well-established family company like Future Way Holding was part of our strategic plans.”
“For us, investment in this region is a logic step forward and follows our long term strategic business plan. In our geographical footprint, we were lacking a distribution presence in the Middle East. So it was only a matter of time, when we should start our business development in this high potential market,” says Hidde van der Wal, “In about ten years from now I expect this venture to be well established with a very sizable turnover of double digits in millions of dollars.”
For Barentz International, headquartered in The Netherlands and active in close to 50 countries across three continents, this joint venture is strategically important, with the well-educated Iranian consumer looking to buy established, good quality international brands for their food & beverage, pharmaceutical and animal nutrition products. Being present in the Middle East fills the geographical gap between the Barentz presence in Europe and in the Asia Pacific region.
Mr. Ali Sabetian, CEO of Future Way Holding, explains: “Working together with a reputable company like Barentz, with their expertise of food and pharmaceutical applications and access to ingredients from reputable suppliers from around the world, is a real advantage for our customers. We can benefit from the cooperation with Barentz in more than one way. We will gain more ingredients expertise from our shared knowledge and also, we will have an increased access to more high quality and innovative ingredients from international suppliers. Although the consumption pattern of food products in Iran is still quite traditional, we observe a continuing trend of especially younger people wanting to buy established international brands. We expect these brands to move into our markets gradually, with a long-term aim.”
The newly established joint venture company will operate under the legal entity Barentz Middle East. Representing world class suppliers of ingredients, Barentz is active on three continents in 50 countries with around 700 people.
by Elizabeth Kenward
