Originating in Europe, Orffa has a very strong presence in all major feed producing markets of Europe, which has been the start of a quick internationalization. Europe is still our main market, in which we generate about half of our revenues. However, since we started our international expansion, our presence outside Europe has been growing very fast. Entering the Turkish market fits our strategy, which aims at a direct presence in the main feed producing markets.
Orffa, the leading European-based feed additives manufacturer, continues to strengthen its presence in the international feed market. Currently serving over 2,000 customers in more than 80 countries, the company has recently opened a new office in Russia. The company, which continues its local office preparations in South Korea, is now establishing Orffa Turkey. Among the markets that the company aims to operate directly in the coming period are countries such as Indonesia, Australia and Canada.
We talked to Orffa CEO Eddy Ketels, about both its structuring in the world and its product range, as well as its structuring plans in Turkey. Saying that Turkey is a very dynamic market, characterized by strong historical growth, Ketels emphasizes: “The fact that a lot of large national and international companies are operating in the market, makes it a very attractive market for us. The technical and scientific level of the market is impressive, and stakeholders are aware of production aspects which are becoming extremely important in the future, such as sustainability, environmental aspects and product quality.”
The details about Orffa and the firm’s future plans are in our interview with Mr. Ketels.
First of all, can we get to know Orffa a little bit? What is Orffa’s place in the global animal feed industry?
Orffa is a leading marketing and sales company for feed additives in Europe, handling about 160,000 MT of additives per year, both specialty products and ingredients. Our turnover is about $300 million per year, growing steadily, and we employ about 130 experts to support this business.
We develop, customize, source and offer a complete range of feed additives and concepts for animal nutrition and production. We supply our products to over 2,000 customers worldwide and have a deep market penetration in Europe.
Orffa has a history of over 50 years of being an innovative supplier of feed additives. Europe being our home base, we are at the cradle of product innovation in terms of animal production. We are committed to research and we have partnerships with leading universities and research stations, allowing us to constantly develop new concepts and products allowing the industry to cope with the ever more challenging market environment.
Orffa is a very dynamic organization, characterized by a continuous growth. The industry appreciates Orffa as a key partner, allowing us to grow about 15-25% per year.
Could you tell us about the product range you offer to the animal nutrition industry? Does your company have a product group or category in which it stands out?
Orffa markets three product categories. Since our initial objective -about 50 years ago- was to distribute leading brands of feed additives in Europe, we still have an historical relation with some of our partners. We consequently still have a distribution range of products (Top Select), which is still marketed in parts of Europe. Orffa enjoys very long supplier relations going back over 30-40 years.
More recently, we have invested in two fast growing product ranges, Excentials and Elovitals, which we nowadays roll out globally.
Elovitals is our proprietary range of standard feed additives (vitamins, minerals and amino acids) which we market in close partnership with our suppliers. Orffa acts as the marketing and sales partner to producing partners, who often operate as our toll manufacturers. Thanks to our unique relation model, we guarantee a constant supply of feed additives to the market. Orffa guarantees the quality of the products sold, which conform to European standards.
Our flagship product range is Excentials… a number of innovative technical feed additives, extensively documented with university trials and customers experiences, which are developed to fit market needs and customer requirements. Spearhead products are Excential Energy Plus, the most cost-efficient feed emulsifier, and Excential Selenium4000, a new form of fully available organic selenium. Our Excential product range grows at a pace of close to 30-40% per year!
Our products are not only designed to increase the cost-effectiveness of animal production, but we also focus more and more on products affecting sustainability and improving the quality of animal production, as well as health and welfare.
How is Orffa different from other competitors? What are your features that differentiate you in the market?
Orffa stands out because of the high service level of the company… in all possible aspects. Our people are experts in technical support, market information, quality control and regulatory affairs, technical development and innovation, logistics and customer service.
In a recent customer review, Orffa is characterized as outstanding in terms of partnerships, and recognized for its innovation skills, professionalism, reliability and quality. We are clearly seen as knowledge providers to the industry.
Partnership is a key word in our strategy… we now service about 2,000 customers in over 80 countries, and still counting… We want to lift product supply to the next level, by providing objective market information, by organizing technical information sessions, by working closely with our customers to bring solutions to the challenges they are encountering.
Orffa is an independent marketing and sales company, which allows us to develop close partnerships with all main players in the industry. More than just selling products, we develop solutions for our customers, fit to their needs, in a close and confidential partnership format.
What also makes us different is our investment in product development and R&D. We invest a significant percentage of our revenues in research to document our key products and to develop new concepts. We have partnerships with several leading universities globally… in Europe, in Latin America and Asia, even in Africa.
What kind of services and supports do you provide for the animal nutrition industry apart from product supply?
As already mentioned, we intend to be more than just a supplier of good quality products… We want to develop solutions and bring new concepts to our customers, allowing them to cope with the increasing complexity of our market place. We are going beyond production efficiency, which is of course a conditio sine qua non… And we are bringing solutions in terms of sustainability and product quality, health and welfare. In order to get to this status, we employ specialized local staff, which is working closely together with central technical managers, specialists in animal nutrition, and with an innovation team, which is constantly in contact with industry leaders and universities to get new ideas for innovative concepts.
Our strength is the combination of ingredients and specialties in our portfolio. We have a commercial team servicing our customers with ingredients (vitamins, minerals…) and we have technical teams working closely with our partners to develop applications with our in house developed specialty products. This combination makes Orffa unique. Talking ingredients, one of the main services we give is market information… Our ingredients team sends regulator market overviews with pricing updates to the key customers, allowing them to take their purchase decisions based on objective facts and figures.
As mentioned already, Orffa’s trade mark is technical marketing.
Product introduction is backed up by efficiency trials, showing the effect of our products on performance, sustainability, health, quality and welfare.
Orffa organizes local and international seminars and webinars to share product information. Simultaneously, technical and scientific -peer reviewed- articles are published by our people, often in close collaboration with eminent researchers at the universities where the trials have been performed.
All our products come with an impressive file containing a wealth of technical data on their mode of action and efficiency.
In order to be abreast of the latest political and regulatory developments, we are very close to industry organisations, such as FEFANA in Europe, and we are in constant contact with leading universities all over the world, as well as with local and international authorities. One of our strengths is that we are in contact with all decision makers in the industry, from our highly appreciated customers, to the producers of feed additives… via the authorities, research institutes, professional organisations… and all other stakeholders in the industry.
Can you tell us a bit more about your organization on a global scale? In which markets/countries do Orffa products meet with industry representatives?
Originating in Europe, Orffa has a very strong presence in all major feed producing markets of Europe, which has been the start of a quick internationalization. Europe is still our main market, in which we generate about half of our revenues. However, since we started our international expansion, our presence outside Europe has been growing very fast.
Our expansion strategy is based on a direct presence in the main 25 feed producing markets, taking Europe as one. We now have branches or legal entities in the America’s (USA, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina), in South Africa, Morocco and Jordan, as well as in Asia (India, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Philippines and Australasia, just as in Japan). We have recently started our direct operations via a legal entity in Russia and next on the list is Korea.
We operate a shipment platform in China and India, and produce our key products at various locations in Europe, as well as in India and China.
You recently announced that you have plans to have a presence in the Turkish market. Could you inform us about these plans? Are your products currently on sale in Turkey, or are you planning to enter the market with a completely new organization?
Our business model is based on a direct presence in the main feed producing markets, with a very strong central support from the headquarters in the Netherlands. Orffa is already indirectly active in Turkey right now, but we want to make sure our successful products get proper attention.
One of the first hurdles to take is the registration process… Some of our products are deregulated in Turkey, others need registration. Since we want to have control of our own registration, and since we want to have local people employed, as well as eventually service our customers from a local inventory, we decided to establish a legal entity in Turkey. This will allow us to efficiently operate in the market, and give a maximum of service to our customers.
Given the nature of our specialty products, we judge it extremely important to have a local ‘technical-commercial’ presence, allowing us to have an efficient local support. We have hired an experienced country manager to develop the business. In terms of ingredients, we prefer to operate from our headquarters in the Netherlands, with country managers servicing the key customers from Europe. We have appointed a country manager dedicated to the large Turkish market. Information and agility is key for our ingredients business, and we find it essential to provide our customers with up-to-date market, price and product information for our ingredient range of products, hence our centralized approach.
It goes without saying that both our country managers work together very closely.
They are supported by our central departments, based in the Netherlands and Belgium, which give full support in terms of sales, customer service and logistics, and in technical support, regulatory affairs and quality control. As the Turkish business grows, we intend to add more local people and local services in Turkey, and to decentralize some of our support.
What is the reason for the idea of taking a place in the Turkish market? What are the features and opportunities that draw your attention in this market?
Entering the Turkish market fits our strategy, which aims at a direct presence in the main feed producing markets. Turkey is also close to Europe, and in terms of regulatory processes adopts more or less the same standards as the EU does.
Turkey is also a very dynamic market, characterized by a strong historical growth, it is one of major growth poles of animal production. The fact that a lot of large national and international companies are operating in the market, makes it a very attractive market for us. The technical and scientific level of the market is impressive, and stakeholders are aware of production aspects which are becoming extremely important in the future, such as sustainability, environmental aspects and product quality.
Initially we have tried to enter the market solely via distributors, but we think it is much more efficient to have a local technical manager to service the customers and the market.
What will your organization in Turkey be like? Are you planning to structure through a distributor/representative or are you preparing to set up your own local office entirely?
As already mentioned, we think it is important to service the market with a local presence. We are in the process of establishing a legal entity, which will allow us to hold our registrations, and to eventually import products and hold inventory, giving us a perfect position to service our customers.
Our business model is always based on the mix between direct and indirect presence. In Turkey we want to service the large key accounts directly, and we intend to appoint distributors for the medium size and smaller customers, as well as for specific market segments. Having an experienced technical commercial country manager will allow us to give optimal service to the key accounts, and will also provide a strong backup and a competent sparring partner for our local distributors.
We are very happy to announce that Remzi Alihafizoglu joined our team, as a technical sales manager for Turkey. He is obviously based in Turkey, in Istanbul. He will be responsible for the sales of our specialty range of products, and he will cooperate very closely with Samy Emiliani, who is our International Sales Manager for Ingredients, he will be working out of the Netherlands. As the company develops, we will add more people, to guarantee our service and support grows with the business.
Both experts have a long track record in feed additives, and we are very happy they joined our team. I am sure that with their energy, knowledge and support, we will grow our business very fast.
Are there any other markets/countries apart from Turkey that you are considering to be present or that you intend to strengthen your existing structuring/organization?
As mentioned, we just started our activities in Russia, with an office in Moscow, and we are in the process of establishing an Orffa entity in Korea (Seoul).
Congruent with our strategy, we are studying a direct presence in markets, such as Indonesia, Australia and in Canada.
However the major project for the future in to develop a commercial platform in China. We nowadays source a lot of our raw materials in China, and we have a shipment platform over there. We are now in the process of registering our flagship products in China, and as soon we obtain registration, we intend to initiate a commercial network in the vast Chinese market. The plans for this have been delayed due to Covid.
Anything else you want to add…
I just would like to spend a few words on our strategic cornerstones… Orffa’s strategy has following pillars…
• People
They are our main asset. We employ top quality specialists and give them a broad responsibility and freedom. We support them by efficient central teams and offer them permanent internal and external training;
• Geographic expansion
We already refered to our ambition to become a global player, and to expand our business to new markets, with a strong growth perspective. We strongly believe that Orffa has a proper place in the Turkish feed market.
• Partnerships
Our business is based on close partnerships with all stakeholders in the industry. Our customers are our main partners
Information sharing and offering solutions are our main mantra; that is why we are appreciated as a knowledge and service platform bringing producers and customers together. Our top 20 customers buy -on average- about 18 different products from Orffa.
• Branding
Our brands Elovitals and Excentials stand top quality products, reliable supply, massive documentation on efficiency and safety.
• Innovation and Service
Our objective is to bring at least one new concept/product to the market per year… and Orffa offers a service second to none… administratively, logistically, in terms of quality assurance and regulatory affairs, and on commercial, scientific and technical level.
