Mars Petcare, owner of brands such as Pedigree and Whiskas, will expand its wet pet food plant, located in Querétaro, and will invest more than 2,000 million pesos in the following 18 months.
In these facilities, located in the municipality of El Márques, the company will increase the production of wet food for the Pedigree, Whiskas, Cesar and Sheba brands, in addition to the innovations that will reach the market.
“There is nothing that fills me with more pride than opening a factory because this means that the business grows,” said Francisco Fernández, director of Mars Mexico, during the laying of the first stone of the complex.
With this expansion, the company will double its production capacity to 70,000 tons per year, that is, it will produce 55 million sachets of wet food for pets per month.
With this expansion, the company will add 8,000 square meters and a production line. In addition, the facilities will have rainwater harvesting and a wind energy supply system, for which the building will have a LEED certification.
During the pandemic, Mexicans adopted more company pets, and the market has maintained a constant growth in food consumption, which at the end of 2020, grew 8.1% to 1.2 million tons. Production also increased 8%, according to data from the National Council of Manufacturers of Balanced Food and Animal Nutrition (Conafab).
And the dynamism continues. At the end of 2021, revenues from pet food sales in Mexico are estimated at 2,455.4 million dollars and, according to Euromonitor International, in 2026 they will reach 3,122.9 million, with a growth rate of 27.2%.
Mexico is the fourth market for Mars PetCare and the plant expansion project will generate 600 new jobs according to projections by the company, which also has Eukanoba and Royal Canin among its brands.
cope with inflation
The company has faced rising prices for raw materials, such as corn. To lessen the impact, the company has increased its local supply.
Francisco Ríos, director of corporate affairs Mars Pet Nutrition Mexico, commented that now 50% of suppliers are local, while they have maneuvered to lessen the impact.
“One of the things about being a global company is that there are many people and associates working to prevent, to find savings, efficiencies and new processes and products so that with less we can do more. That is the way to counteract the increases of the last months in corn and packaging material, for example,” he said.
The manager explained that for now they have managed to double e-commerce sales, although the percentage it represents of sales is still small, while it is the little stores and the wholesale channel that still generate the highest volume of sales.
Once the plant comes into operation in 18 months, an increase in sales is expected above the growth of the category in Mexico, which registers double-digit increases.
