Lagafors’ innovative cleaning systems are becoming an increasingly important competitive advantage on the international food-processing market. We already market our products in 25 countries and we are now further strengthening our international presence by establishing a new subsidiary to serve Central Europe.
Strong interest in our products
The goal with this new establishment is to meet opportunities in Central Europe, where many food-processing companies are investing for future growth. These companies are meeting growing domestic demand, but also have the ambition of penetrating the Western European market or qualifying as suppliers to multinational brands. If they are going to succeed, they must first quality-assure their processes, including their food hygiene standards. And that is where Lagafors’ well-proven products come into the picture.
Drawing on the experience from our German venture
Our international sales are to a large degree managed through distributors; an arrangement that we find works very well. But working with distributors is not the same as opening a subsidiary.
“A distributor represents several different companies, while a subsidiary will only focus on our products. The difference in sales volumes is significant”, says Magnus Elmblad, Lagafors’ CEO, who has positive experiences of earlier international market launches.
“We have been serving the German market through a wholly-owned subsidiary since 2011, so we understand the advantages that a physical presence brings. We now hope to repeat that success in Central Europe, from a base in Slovenia.”
Proximity to exciting markets
A modern infrastructure and an advantageous geographic location were decisive in our choice of Slovenia. Add to that a formidable asset in the form of our commercially driven, polyglot and technically savvy subsidiary president, who has been our distributor in this region since 2006.
Our Slovenian subsidiary will primarily serve customers in Croatia, Serbia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Ukraine.
Further on down the road, we see interesting opportunities in the Europe/Asia frontier countries. We are already present in Turkey and demand from countries like Iran, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia is increasingly rapidly.
Other ventures in the pipeline
This investment in Central Europe is not the only one that Lagafors has planned, as we keep a watchful eye on other promising markets.
“We’ve cast a wide net and are working on a number of new collaborations”, says Magnus Elmblad, who hopes to be able to present further positive developments later this spring.