Production of potatoes attracts investments in Mines

Or iron ore, or coffee. Potato production is beginning to give the example of the potential for recovery of the agricultural product in mining lands, fueling an extensive chain of jobs and income generated from industrial processing crops, and involving suppliers and service providers. Greater Brazilian producer of traditional tubercle dish made of Brazilian State comes attracting investment since last year from well known and new entrepreneurs in the industry of processed potatoes. Chase resources and at the same time stimulate plantations of southern Minas Gerais and the high Paranaíba, which stand out for the use of technology, high productivity, and the topography is conducive to cultivation.
There are only seven months, the factory of Sete Lagoas, in the Central region of Minas Gerais, the multinational PepsiCo spent to answer for the Brazilian production of Lay's crisps, after receiving investments in State-of-the-art know-how in product industrialization. In January, it was time to call their machines Food Sérya mining in Araxá, in Alto Paranaíba, joining in the sophisticated segment of frozen potato specialities, produced from grated potato or mashed. Budgeted at $ 30 million, the company has the capital and the sales and distribution platforms of the oven Mines mining, becoming the first Brazilian company in the business.
Another factory is being built in the municipality of Partridges, 50 km from Araxá, Minas Gerais industry food Well Brazil. The new unit, which will start operations in the second half of next year, by opening 380 direct jobs, more than double the company's production capacity, this 100 thousand tons per year of pre-cooked frozen potatoes in Araxá.
If you depend on the willingness of companies, despite the economic crisis, farmers and industries tend to write an important chapter of mines initiatives add value to commodities. The President of the Oven, Helder Mendonça, reveals that the intention of the members of the Sérya food is diving into the possibilities that a new market for Brazil – the specials-offers stocked so prevalent by imported products, with the advantage of having the supply of quality raw material, in practice, at the gates of the factory.
MORE fresh "we operate the largest producing region and it allows you to use the potatoes harvested in the morning, ensuring product freshness. Allows the development of products to be baked in house and the offer throughout the year also gives us a front differential to foreign competitors, "he says. In addition to the two brands launched by plant, which has capacity to produce 12 million tons a year, running on three shifts with 60 employees direct, two more major releases are planned, the potatoes noisette and the kind smile, of various formats.
The consumption figures in the country are, similarly, animators for Well Brazil. The company evaluates every day the market projections, which, in 2014, showed volume of 388 thousand tons of potatoes frozen pré-frita, representing 4.8% more in comparison to 2013. The company's expansion was 6.7% in the period, therefore, a superior performance to what would have been registered for imported products, from 4.5%. Initial estimates in 2015, which has been shown to be of concern due to the worsening of some economic indicators suggest 440 thousand tons of the product, which would mean high of 13.4% compared to 2014, above estimates for the country's growth.
Marketing Coordinator of Brazil, Juliana Monteiro, says that, despite major challenges, company policy aims to develop in the medium term. "We know that the greater the difficulty, the greater the competitiveness and competition as challenges," he points out. The market for processed potatoes is considered promising in the country. Only the annual consumption of potato stick pré-frita is estimated at 400 million pounds, providing revenue around r $ 1.5 billion. The figure includes wavy potato chips, plain, straw and frozen.
FIELD EFFICIENCY in crops, productivity has shown that came, as strength in support of the processing chain. The production per hectare of bataticultores miners have been consistently higher than the national average over the past 14 years, based on data from the Brazilian Institute of geography and statistics (IBGE). The expectation this year is a harvest of 31,463 kilos per hectare in the State and in Brazil 27,903 kg/ha. The offer would not be a problem for adding value to culture, in the evaluation of the Superintendent of Agricultural politics and economics of the State Secretariat of Agriculture, livestock and food supply, João Ricardo Albanez.
Mining production comes gravitating since 2003 next or a little over 1 million tonnes per year, enough to supply domestic and from other States. "What we need to work on is in the differentiation of potato for the different types of consumption and that's not very internalized by own client," he says. The recovery of prices, which helps to make more profitable agribusiness, is, in turn, an indicator of the way the State can tread on industrialization. Taking as an example the potato straw, every pound of fresh product sold at R $ 1 goes through processing to the production cost of $ 7.50 and the final product is usually sold around $ 10 per kilo.
Without fire of straw
For small processing plants potatoes in Mines, the prospects for more active participation in the market involve a complex design. In Ipuiúna, in the South of the State, named as the national capital of the potato, the industrialist Antonio Flávio Days Ahmed chose to freeze the plan mapped out in 2013 to broaden the range of products of trademark straw potato Mr. Crisp's, there are 23 years on the market. "The costs have increased and inflation has risen. I'm afraid to invest now. Prefer to keep your feet on the ground a year considered lost. "
The factory, which employs seven people, had been growing 20% per year until 2013, when production increased from 200 tonnes to 20% fall 2014 suffer, influenced by the slowdown of the economy. The wisest strategy for Flávio Ahmed, is working to maintain operations and quality, saving customers captive in the Southern State and Sao Paulo.
Despite the slowdown of the economy, the expansion of consumption is seen as promising, as a result of the changing habits of the population in search of practicality, in the evaluation of researcher Joaquim Gonçalves de Padua, the South regional of the company Mines de Pesquisa Agropecuária de Minas Gerais (Epamig). "Potatoes, makes almost the whole production," he says.
In the State, the history of the potato processing is essentially linked to the southern region, where the straw potato industry was born in the past decade, having already exceeded a hundred small and medium-sized factories. Most of them still live in the informal sector. John Albanez, the Secretary of State for Agriculture, notes that the raw material cultivation occurs in three harvests. South mineiro 57% answer of production in first season. Already the high Paranaíba concentrates 44% and 52%, in the two following seasons.