Fertilizer specialist OvinAlp plans to set up in Brazil and Vietnam
By export or international, it serious talker All activities outside the borders of France. Therefore, it is a big word for the reality that each country often needs to adapt its process individually. This is truer as the distance increases. It is therefore not surprising that Mathieu Giovale, OvinAlp’s director of strategy and development, spontaneously speaks of “key exports” when talking about development projects outside of Europe.
Export is important
For the SME located in Ribiers near Sisteron, overseas development is important. Indeed, it offers fertilization solutions or in other words “products that promote soil nutrition so that plants can feed on it“As the manager concluded. The Haute-Alpes company, with a hundred employees and a turnover of 30 million euros, has historically been involved in the viticulture, horticulture and market gardening sectors.
A saturated market in France since 2018, prompting him to look abroad.Today we work in all countries bordering France“, Mathieu Giovale presents. His manure, pellets, sometimes even go as far as Poland. The company manufactures its active ingredient on site, then goes through a service provider for production abroad.
Development of an entire sector in Brazil
But for two years, the leader, the current CEO, who was supposed to take over from his father, Eric Giovale, has been working on a “big export” with his brother. Two countries are targeted: Brazil and Vietnam. “We want to replicate our model there“, reveals Mathieu Giovale, who did not reveal more about the value chain.SheepAlp bis“who answers”the impossibility of sending live microorganisms outside of Europe” and should not see the light of day before 2025.
The choices of Brazil and Vietnam address different issues. First “20 years ahead in microbiological development, but no carbon-free product strategy yet“, explains Mathieu Giovale. Across the Atlantic, he hopes to develop a sector along the crop cycle, working with sheep farms or stables. As for the second, “it is a country inclined to organicism” leader is moving forward. The context for foreign investors has also become more favorable in recent years.
Key R&D for national development
However, these major international projects do not mean that OvinAlp is no longer considering developments in France. Instead, it plans to enter new markets, namely grain and industrial culture. Potential customers that can now be approached thanks to new product development, the result of a long phase of research and development.
The company’s four-person laboratory, supported by various partners such as the Natural History Museum in Paris or the Institute for Research and Development (IRD), first identified all the active ingredients in the manure.OvinAlp. “This allowed us to see exactly what was in our products and what was effective“, explains Mathieu Giovale.
Raw materials by hand
It is enough to analyze bacteria and fungi that are able to respond to agronomic problems. Two have received approval, they aim to improve the efficiency of nitrogen or inorganic phosphorus, two key plant nutrients. For Mathieu Giovale, these solutions will enable “improve productivity“. An important aspect for great products.”where the cost is calculated to the nearest penny“What the leader is aiming for now.
Still in France, and more specifically in the Upper Alps, OvinAlp wants to get the dry matter it uses for fermentation this year. “The age we will dry is spent grain“, Mathieu Giovale presents. Today, half comes from France and the other half from Spain, it will now be through platforms. This shift allows better management of costs and material supply.
