Well Brazil invests 200 million R$ in manufacture of potato canned search

São Paulo-Brazil well, manufacturer of pre-cooked potatoes, opened yesterday a new factory in Partridges (MG). With an investment of 200 million R$, the company will expand in 50% the production capacity.
"At the beginning of the operation, we are exporting part of the volume to speed up the occupation of the new factory," the DCI the President of Brazil, João Emílio Well Rocheto. The new plant extends to 150,000 tons per year of brazilian production capacity.
According to the Executive, with 25% of the slice of pre-cooked potatoes internal market, the company has been growing driven by expansion of the segment in the country in recent years. However, with the reduction in the consumption of Brazilian families over the past two years, Rocheto recognizes that it will be more difficult to maintain the pace of growth.
"We know that the market as a whole will not grow as much, which is why we have to act more strongly on the commercial, seeking new customers", explains.
The Well Brazil ended last year with high of almost 7% in sales volume before 2015. For this year, the goal is to register growth of 30%.
"At this rate, and with some export at the beginning, we hope to occupy the entire productive structure of factory in up to four years. But the focus remains the internal market ".
The dispute in Brazil, remember the Executive, is fought with pre-cooked potatoes manufacturers in Europe and the United States. Imported, these products became more expensive in the past year with the high-dollar against real. But the new wave of American currency devaluation concerns.
"With real if valuing very, competition with the imported becomes more fierce and also face more difficulty when attempting to export".
Rocheto says that expects a favorable outcome to the anti-dumping proceeding in progress against the importation of pre-cooked potatoes from Europe. "We are tracking it, but so far I don''t know if it will be approved or not," he added he.
Despite the less favourable situation at the opening of the new plant, the manager ensures that relies on the expansion of pre-cooked potatoes, whose per capita consumption in Brazil is still lower than that seen in the United States and Europe.
"The food service segment (food outside the home) is what most suffered in 2016, because household consumption out of homes fell, but on the other hand the demand for potatoes to consume home grown, with a compensating for the other thing, till the market improves," the President of Brazil.
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The indebtedness to finance the new plant also worried about Rocheto. The project started in 2014, with two-thirds of the contributions made through third-party resources. 50% of this amount was paid by way of funding lines, with lower interest rates. The other half, however, was financed in the final phase, with high interest rates.
"We had some long term lines, especially with overseas funding, but that didn''t work, so now we''re paying interest more expensive and we need to consider that renegotiating these debts," he says.
The sale of energy generated by a thermoelectric biomass, built by well Brazil to supply the new plant, is a possibility. According to Rocheto, the plant was created to ensure the power supply of the unit, since the delivery of the raw material by Cemig, company responsible for providing electricity in the region, will only be able to serve the company in the middle of this year.
"As Thermo was ready, we set the factory and all the electrical infrastructure has been built thinking on possible sale of energy on the free market."