Nairobi, 4 August 2021 – Unga Group is pleased to announce that subject to the necessary regulatory approvals it has formed two joint ventures with Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquafeed to meet the growing demand for high-quality protein within the East African region. This partnership involves open-ended, Nutreco-managed joint ventures with two indirect subsidiaries of Unga Group: Unga Farm Care (EA) Limited in Kenya and Unga Millers (U) Limited in Uganda. The announcement underpins Unga’s commitment to its vision of ‘Nutrition for Life’ and will enlarge the footprint of the Unga group in East Africa.
The yet to be named joint ventures will focus on fish feed development in East Africa and complete animal feed development in Uganda. The entities will make significant investments in production capacity in both Kenya and Uganda to meet the anticipated future market demand.
- The Kenyan entity will produce fish feeds intended for East African markets at Unga’s existing extruded fish feed plant in Nairobi and market them under the Skretting & Fugo brands.
- The Ugandan entity will benefit from the transfer of Unga’s existing flour production facility in Kampala, to host a state-of-the-art mill producing complete animal feed and concentrates sold under a range of Trouw Nutrition & Unga brands.
Expanding into growth markets
The growing population in East Africa is expected to double from 170 million people to approximately 340 million people by 2050. With the increase in population, the demand for high quality protein from the aquaculture and agriculture sectors will rise accordingly.
Nutreco’s CEO Rob Koremans says, “I am thrilled to partner with Unga Farm Care and Unga Millers; companies that, like Nutreco, have extensive knowledge within the animal nutrition and aquaculture industries. Together, Nutreco and Unga Group will tap into each other’s extensive expertise to continue meeting the growing demand for high quality protein.”
Hundreds of years of experience and a long-standing relationship
Unga has over 100 years of grain-processing experience in East Africa and, as one of Kenya’s oldest companies, has become the largest animal feed miller in East Africa. Since its inception in 1909, Unga has grown from a wheat grain miller to manufacture and market a broad range of human nutrition, animal nutrition, and animal health products in East African countries. Unga has been a business partner of Nutreco’s divisions, Trouw Nutrition and Skretting, for more than 25 years.
Unga’s CEO Nick Hutchinson comments, “Nutreco and Unga have worked together as customer and supplier for many years, and we are trusted partners to one another. We are therefore thrilled to bring our partnership to the next level. Together, we will advance our offerings to our customers as we aim to supply high-quality feed supported by world class technical know-how to our aquaculture and agriculture livestock customers.”
About Nutreco
Nutreco is a global leader in animal nutrition and aquafeed. Our advanced nutritional solutions are at the origin of food for millions of consumers worldwide. Every day, Nutreco’s 12,100 dedicated employees in more than 37 countries across the globe relentlessly pursue our mission of Feeding the Future in a way that ensures sustainability is front and center in all we do. Our solutions go beyond nutrition – we provide best-in-class advice and technology to help our customers produce more food, in a sustainable way, to feed our growing population. With over 100 years of experience, Nutreco is a global leader in animal nutrition through our Trouw Nutrition division, and in aqua feed through our Skretting division. Our NuFrontiers team works to identify, develop and invest in next-generation breakthrough innovations throughout the value chain. In 2019, Nutreco had net revenues of €6.4 billion. The company is a subsidiary of SHV Holdings N.V., a family-owned multinational with net sales of €19.2 billion in 2019.
About Unga
Unga Group Plc is a Kenyan company listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange that holds a majority shareholding in market-leading companies involved with the manufacture and marketing of a broad range of human nutrition, animal nutrition and animal health products. Unga has been milling flour since 1909.
Unga Group Plc partnered with Seaboard Corporation, a diverse US-based multinational agribusiness and transportation group with integrated operations in several industries, in the year 2000 to establish Unga Holdings Limited, whose subsidiaries s include Unga Limited Unga Farm Care (EA) Limited, Ennsvalley Bakery Limited and Unga Millers (U) Limited. Over 90% of the company’s revenue is derived from Kenya with the remainder attributed to sales in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. The company has recently announced the proposed sale of the assets of Ennsvalley Bakery Limited.
In 2020, Unga Group Plc reported net revenues of Kenya Shillings 18.2 billion (US$ 175.4 million). Its business strategies, operations and 1,025 employees are guided by the vision ‘Nutrition for Life’ and 5 strategic pillars i.e. People, Customer & Consumer Intimacy, Supply Chain Optimization, Portfolio Diversification and Geographic Expansion.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements related to the market demand. Neither Unga nor Nutreco undertakes no duty or obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information.