Feed for the world
Portrait
What started out as a home office business quickly turned into a multi-million-euro company for entrepreneur Andreas Krecek, Owner and Managing Director of Luxtrade.
“Since its foundation in 2008, the company has grown organically very successfully without the slightest external investment,” he explains. “Networking, experience and most importantly being a reliable partner to our customers have been the keys to our success.”
The company buys and distributes raw materials mainly for the animal feed industry. The varied product range includes fats derived from palm oil, wheat and its by-products, soybeans and soybean meal, as well as proteins from both vegetable and animal origin like fish meal and other processed animal proteins. Microingredients in compound feed like antioxidants are also in demand by feed mills, which form the majority of Luxtrade’s customers. The feed industry is the central target group, and Luxtrade’s customers are either importers or the feed mills themselves.
Luxtrade is present in many countries and is very successful in Western Europe, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia. It also has a large presence in Southeast Asia as well as the Middle East. The company considers Southeast Asia to be its main market, while the Middle East is an upcoming region.
“It is important to adapt your mentality to that of your customers,” says Mr. Krecek. “Good international business relationships form through patience and cultural understanding.” The animal feed industry can be found in over 130 countries; success in this market means being willing to do business with as many foreign clients as possible.
The animal feed industry is very competitive, but Luxtrade stands out from the rest. It utilizes its marketing resources in order to gain strong contacts and partners. “As a small company, we certainly differ from the big players who still dominate the global supply with commodities – but we try to generate better margins by finding niches and skipping as many marketing levels as we can,” explains Mr. Krecek. “We almost always deliver straight to the end customer, and we minimize our risk by working with very reliable partners.” Luxtrade’s unique relationship with the Southeast Asian market, for example, has proven to be an effective business strategy. Making reliable contacts in such a volatile market has opened up many opportunities for the company. Through the globalized thinking and acting of all partners involved in Luxtrade’s transactions as well as international networking, Luxtrade’s foreign projects are completed quickly and efficiently.
Luxtrade has many plans for the future. In September, the company will move to a newly built office building that is more spacious. This also gives Luxtrade the opportunity to strengthen its staff. The company is currently short of staff, but the move to a new location will allow it to increase its workforce to eight to ten employees by the end of 2017. For now, Mr. Krecek wants to continue to focus on the animal feed industry, although expansion into other industries is also a possibility: “I am always open to new opportunities if they seem promising enough. Luxtrade is strong in feed today, but to be successful in the long run, flexibility is essential.”
He is also potentially interested in a new market altogether. “I could imagine the African market being a successful addition to our animal feed business strategy,” he says. “We will certainly intensify our activities in Africa in the next couple of years.” Luxtrade had sales of 20 million EUR last year and hopes to increase this in the future by winning new business, retaining existing clients and potentially adding more projects to its repertoire.