Barentz sets up joint venture in Iran
The joint venture between the two companies will see the establishment of new company tasked with distributing food and animal nutrition ingredients in Iran, a Barentz statement said on Wednesday 27 January.
Iran has around 80 million consumers, with approximately 400 million in the surrounding export region, and this makes Iran a “highly interesting market for industrial ingredients”, according to Barentz.
“This acquisition is a great first milestone in our continued expansion plan for 2016,” said Barentz International CEO Hidde van der Wal.
“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.
“The synergy of our cooperation lies with Future Way’s traditional Persian way of doing business, combined with our knowledge of – and access to – high-quality ingredients of our renowned suppliers, which will help local Iranian producers to increase the quality of their products and will enable them to grow their local business,” he added.
The new joint venture company will operate under the name Barentz Middle East. In its most recent yearly results, Barentz International reported a turnover of €810m ($880m) in 2014.
“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,” said Future Way Holding CEO Ali Sabetian.
“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.”
